 From Montreal, Sornalingam moved to Chennai in July 1983, and from there went back to Sri Lanka; upon his return, he chose to become a full time member of the LTTE, and began his rise through the ranks.He participated in a gun battle near the Tamil Information Centre in Chennai in 1985 in which he and his colleagues kidnapped the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam military commander Kannan; Kannan was later exchanged by the LTTE for Pottu Amman, who had been kidnapped earlier by the PLOTE.During these years, three of his brothers who were involved with the LTTE died