Former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived at Colombo late last night from Bangkok. Rajapaksa had fled the island nation in mid-July when the protesters had stormed the presidential palace displaying anger over the country's worst-ever economic crisis.<br />''<br />''Agency sources reported that Mr. Rajapaksa was received by several ministers of the Srilankan government. He later proceeded in a motorcade heavily guarded by armed soldiers and reached a government-allocated house in his capacity as a former president.<br />''<br />''The ex-president returned to Sri Lanka on a Singapore Airlines flight. He travelled from Thailand to Singapore to take the flight as there are no direct flights between Bangkok and Colombo.<br />''<br />''Mr. Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka to the Maldives on a Sri Lanka Airforce plane and then proceeded to Singapore, from where he sent in his resignation on July 14.<br />''<br />''Later, he flew to Thailand, seeking temporary shelter from where he returned.<br />''<br />''After Mr. Rajapaksa resigned, acting president Ranil Wickremasinghe was elected as the President for the rest of the term till November 2024.<br />''<br />''Sri Lanka is going through its worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948 which was triggered by a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves. The crisis was managed mainly due to India's humanitarian aid worth over 3.8 billion dollars.<br />