Batticaloa district security strengthened

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 14:53 GMT]
The security of the Batticaloa district, which has witnessed four political murders since the filing of nominations for the forthcoming general election, has been strengthened following the killings of two persons including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate Mr.Rajan Sathyamoorthy Tuesday.

A special police team has been appointed to conduct investigation into the murder of Mr.Rajan Sathyamoorthy and his nephew Mr. Kandiah Kanagasabai. The special team immediately commenced its investigation and recordered statements of several persons including those who were at the scene of the crime, police said.

The Batticaloa Magistrate Mr.A.J.M.Ajmeer who held the inquest into these killing ordered the hospital authorities to hand over the bodies to their relatives, legal sources said.

Meanwhile the Batticaloa Police has taken steps to provide tight security to all candidates contesting the district. A Batticaloa top police official met with the TNA lead candidate Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham Tuesday morning and discussed his security, police said.

In the meantime business establishments in Batticaloa Tuesday put up white flags. Mr.Rajan Sathyamoorthy had been holding the post of the Chairman of the Batticaloa District Chamber of Commerce at that time of his demise, sources said.