Trinco Varsha killing; Tamil paramilitary groups blame each other

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 17:08 GMT]
Two paramilitary groups, Tamil Makal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) led by Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan and other by Karuna Amman alias Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, who resigned from the TMVP and joined the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), are blaming each other for the abduction and killing of six-year-old girl student, Varsha Jude Reggie, according to Colombo media reports.

She was abducted on March 11 morning by another person who came in a three-wheeler when she was waiting for her routine trishaw to return home. Later her body was put in an empty fertilizer bag and dumped in a drain in the heart of Trincomalee on 13th Friday afternoon.

TMVP led by Pillaiyan alleges that cadres of Karuna group might be involved in the crime. TMVP spokesman Azad Moulana said Karuna group has been using the TMVP offices with TMVP name board though he joined the SLFP and became a minister in the President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government.

But Karuna group spokesman Iniya Barathi denied the allegation and directly blamed the TMVP group led by Pillaiyan responsible for the crime. Iniya Barathi said Pillaiayan’s TMVP group cadres are directly responsible for many more killings and abductions including Varsha’s, according to media reports published from Colombo.

Trincomalee police arrested six suspects in connection with Varsha’s murder. Two of them died in police custody. One was shot dead by the police when he attempted to escape from police custody and the other took cyanide and committed suicide when he was being taken to a place for further inquiry.

Four are still in police custody, according to police sources.

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