COLOMBO, May 4 Thousands of Tamils fearing reprisals for the murder of Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe I^wnadasa fled Colombo today as police announced the first arrest in connection with the slaying. reports AFP

Prime Minister Dlngiri Banda Wtjctunga was poised meanwhile, to take over as head of state of the island nation after parliament agreed to elect a successor to the assas slnated president on Friday

The election of the 71-year-old Wtjctunga to serve the remaining 19 months of Pre mad anas term is considered formality since the ruling United National Party has a solid majority In parliament.

Tamil sources said about 5,000 Tamils had packed their bags and fled the capital

from Premadasa's home constituency of Ke»el watte amid fears of a violent backlash by members of the majority Sinhalese community.

Tens of thousands of mourners have been pouring into Colombo for the past few days to pay their last respects to Premadaaa, a Sinhalese, and attend what is expected to be an emotional state funeral on Thursday.

Premadasa who had ruled Sri Lanka since January 1989. was assassinated by a suspected Tamil guerilla with explosives strapped to h1s waist who waked up to the president during a Mav Day parade and detonated the explosives.

Police have saki I he suicide bomber was a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Detective Superintendent Lionel Gunatiiake said police were interrogating a man whom they believe was closely linked to the suspected suicide bomber.

The arrested man was identified as K Saman Sujeeva, a Sinhalese grocer.

We hope he will be able to throw some light on the case, Gunatiiake said.

Meanwhile, police raided a number of Tamil boarding houses here and picked up at least 20 young Tamil men for questioning, a police officer said.

Police also arrested a suspected Sri Lankan Tamil militant who had been Jailed in India in connection with the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, police sources said today.

Sabapathypillal

Ariyanayagam was arrested here Sunday for impersonating an army officer and has been remanded in custody for further Investigation, the

sources said.

Gunatiiake said Sujeeva was believed to be the 'contact man' for the attacker, who blew Premadasa to pieces and killed 23 other people including seven policemen forming the inner circle of presidential bodyguards.

Tamil sources said Premadasa's assassin was a Tamil youth who had come to Colombo two years ago from the northern Jaffna peninsula, where LITE guerillas are active.

Gunatiiake said police had yet to firmly establish his identity but added that the youth may have been running a grocery store for Sujeeva.

Local police, meanwhile, have sought the assistance of Scotland Yard to investigate Premadasa's murder.

A four-member team of detectives from Scotland Yard arrived here a week ago to investigate the April 23 killing of opposition leader Lalith Athulathmudali and has been asked to work on the latest case too, Gunatiiake said.