Migrant who launched 'fraudulent' £7m Home Office lawsuit caught go-karting

A Sri Lankan immigrant who launched a multi-million-pound lawsuit against the Home Office for injuries allegedly sustained while in immigration detention has been caught working out at a gym and go-karting. Vengadeswara Raw Gopalakrishnan claimed he had been left entirely incapable of working, studying, or even leaving his house unaccompanied due to "serious and long-term psychiatric injury". However, following a High Court hearing, a judge has ruled the claim fundamentally dishonest and branded the deliberate exaggeration as a “scandalous" waste of court time and public resources.

The fraudulent £7 million claim was exposed after agents hired by the Home Office filmed the claimant leading a highly active lifestyle, The Independent reports . Surveillance footage captured Mr Gopalakrishnan driving a car, eating out at restaurants, taking his children to school, and spending an hour exercising at a local gym. Mr Gopalakrishnan arrived in the UK on a student visa in 2010 but overstayed after it expired in 2012. Following an unsuccessful asylum application, he was placed in immigration detention from September 2013 to February 2014.

He was eventually released on health grounds and granted indefinite leave to remain in 2023, at which point he launched legal action against the government department. He falsely maintained that his detention had caused severe depressive illness with psychotic symptoms and ongoing post-traumatic stress disorder. His partner of ten years, Reena Mathew, acted as his "litigation friend"—a role designed to manage court cases for individuals who lack the mental capacity to do so themselves.

Ruling on the case, Mr Justice Mansfield found that the pair had deliberately fabricated and calculated the symptoms for financial gain. Ordering Mr Gopalakrishnan to pay all of the Home Office's legal costs, the judge said: "It is clear to me that the claimant’s exaggeration of his symptoms has been deliberate, calculated and for the purposes of gain from these proceedings. "By the standards of ordinary decent people, the claimant’s conduct in bringing and pursuing a claim for damages based on fabricated or exaggerated symptoms was dishonest."

As recently as April, Ms Mathew told the court that he required round-the-clock support and was completely unable to manage his finances, cook meals, or leave the house alone. The deception began to unravel when Home Office records additionally revealed that Mr Gopalakrishnan had been working as a delivery driver. Furthermore, investigators discovered online records showing he had actively participated in a competitive go-karting tournament.

When confronted with the video evidence, the claimant could offer no explanation for the blatant inconsistencies.