V. Balakumaran used to be one of the two senior leaders of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS). In 1990 he and a large portion of EROS members left the organization and joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He was active in LTTE's political division. On January 29; 2009; during the last phase of the Sri Lanka Civil War; Balakumaran was seriously wounded in an assault by soldiers of the Sri Lanka army. He was captured during the last hours of the civil war and held under the Prevention of Terrorism act by the Sri Lanka authorities.