Militiaman shoots relatives

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Singarajah Kannan, a cadre of the Razik Group, which is an offshoot of the Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) now operating as a para-military group with the Sri Lankan Army (SLA), shot dead two members of his wife's family and wounded his wife and brother-in-law, at Thalavaai near Eravur, 14 km. north of Batticaloa town early this morning around 2.30 a.m.

Kannan, who married six months ago, is said to cover the Thalavaai area as part of his official beat for the Razik Group in search of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam members.

The dead are Pushparani Sebastian(36), Kannan's mother-in-law and his Sister-in-law Sebastian Sivajini (12). Kannan's wife Sebastian Sumathy(20) and Sebastian Suman (15), his brother-in-law, were wounded.

Sumathy told the police that her husband was the killer. The cause of the murders is believed to be a family dispute. The wounded are warded at the Batticaloa hospital.

Tragedy hit the Sebastian family in 1987 too, when Sebastian, father of Sumathy, was killed by a group operating with the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF).