Dhanushkodi, Jan 22 Around 2.30 am on Friday, Suryakumar landed on the Arichalmunai shores near the ghost village of Dhanushkodi. Fearing a fresh outbreak of conflict between the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE, he had fled his native village, Thondamannar in Jaffna district, with his wife, five daughters and five siblings.

But his flight to safety came at a price. He had to shell out Rs 42,000 to the boat-owner who brought him illegally to Rameshwaram from Talaimannar in the dead of night, when both Sri Lankan and Indian naval patrols were napping.

Suryakumar’s family is not the only one fleeing the violence-torn Lanka. Since January 12, eight batches of Lankan Tamils have reached the Indian shores undetected.

One of the boats was spotted by a three-member naval team, including personnel from the marine commando force, stationed at the forward observation post near Arichalmunai — 500 metres from the last point of India.

‘‘We saw the boat carrying the refugees and another ‘escort’ boat. By the time we got to them, they had dropped their passengers in waist-deep water and fled,’’ Marine Commando, B Kaushik told The Indian Express.

The navy personnel, who normally take charge after they land on the beaches across Rameshwaram, subject the refugees to vigorous questioning.

‘‘What is the name of the boatman who brought you? What colour was the boat? How much did you pay?’’ are some of the queries fired at them by the Tamil Nadu’s ‘Q’ Branch (state special wing dealing with militancy) at Dhanushkodi’s C3 police station.

The male refugees are asked to strip and are checked for wartime scars. ‘‘We check their elbows and knuckles to ascertain if they had been a part of the LTTE movement,’’ said a police officer.

The replies are always guarded. The refugees claim they don’t know the names of the boat agents who ferried them on the nerve-racking four-hour journey.

The deal is usually clinched on the sandy Talaimannar shores in northern Sri Lanka. ‘‘Fishermen on the Mannar shores put us on to boatmen, normally Lankan Tamil fishermen,’’ said Ramesh Ravindran, who along with seven others was dropped at an unscheduled landing point at Othapatti near Dhanushkodi at 3 am on Friday. He belonged to a group of 24 who crossed on the same boat. He said he had paid Rs 10,000 and a gold chain to an agent for ferrying him and five of family.

No doubt, with the fresh refugee influx, the Lankan boat agents are back in business, raking in the moolah. ‘‘The first batch to arrive at Dhanushkodi paid Rs 3,000 Sri Lankan rupees (SLR) (about Rs 1,500 Indian Rupees) per head. Now they are paying about Rs 7,000 (SLR). The rate will keep climbing depending on the escalation of the conflict in northern Sri Lanka,’’ pointed out a ‘Q’ Branch personnel.