Menon returns from Colombo after talks

Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon reached Chennai on Friday from Colombo after holding "fruitful" discussions with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.

"I had fruitful talks with Sri Lankan leaders and would be briefing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi about it," Menon told reporters at the airport.

Menon, who had a one-to-one meeting with Rajapakse at his Temple Trees residence, also met a cross-section of political leaders at a dinner at India House, the official residence of India's High Commissioner in Colombo.

He would be leaving for New Delhi on Friday night where he would apprise Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the discussions he had in Sri Lanka.

The Prime Minister had deputed Menon to Colombo to discuss the current situation in the island nation amidst reports that Sri Lankan army and air force were committing atrocities against ethnic Tamils.