But it has been seen in the past that qualified people often get sidelined on such missions.

KP's link to the Gandhi case is a small part of the mammoth role he played in building up the LTTE since 1983. Just as there could have been no LTTE without Prabhakaran, there may have been no Prabhakaran minus KP.

KP never underwent military training. When he was in India, Prabhakaran decided in 1984 to set up an ultra secret group within the LTTE to buy and transport war material from around the world. KP was picked for the job.

KP rose to the occasion. A man with natural talent for forgery and disguises, he soon acquired multiple identifies as well as passports (including Indian) and slowly built up the LTTE's procurement division.

He set up several front companies (in which he was a master) in several countries to smuggle gold and narcotics. He used the money to buy war material. In India, he secretly operated a dairy farm in Tamil Nadu in the 1980s.

He also set up a secret shipping network for the LTTE that was used to transport weapons brought abroad to Sri Lanka. He operated in total secrecy, reporting only to Prabhakaran.

It is courtesy KP that the LTTE gained thousands of tonnes of arms and ammunition, including advanced defence systems, anti-tank weapons, sniper rifles, mortars, rocket propelled grenades, ammunition, night vision devices, metal detectors, fibreglass boats as well as sophisticated radio and wireless communications.

Except in the last few years when he was known to be mostly in Malaysia, KP was constantly on the move in the 1980s and 1990s, always a step ahead of all his pursuers. One Indian official said he was 'the most elusive of all pimpernels'.

Using several identifies, he visited Lebanon, the Thai-Cambodia border, France, Britain, Sweden, Greece, Cyprus, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Myanmar, Malaysia and Australia. He was known to have been in Britain in 2006 when LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham died.

It was due to KP that the LTTE got its first small aircraft.

However, KP's meteoric rise generated jealousy in the LTTE. Prabhakaran sidelined the man from 2003, bringing in place another loyalist known by his nom de guerre Castro, who was no match for KP's natural talents.

As the LTTE began to sink, Prabhakaran realised the folly and resurrected KP this year. It was too late. Many LTTE watchers believe that Prabhakaran might still be alive if only KP's wings had not been clipped six years ago.