Ex-PLOTE cadre shot dead in Kayts

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 November 2006, 16:39 GMT]
A former senior member of the paramilitary Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) was abducted from his home in Puliyankudal, Kayts Friday and his body was found with gunshot wounds Saturday, sources in Jaffna said. Kumaravelu Suthaharan, alias Appan, 33, left PLOTE less than 5 years ago, got married and was living in Puliyankudal in the Jaffna islet when he was killed.

Suthaharan's body was dumped in shrub jungles surrounding the Kaattu Vairavar Templ in Puliyankudal.

Suthaharan was accused of a crime that shocked Jaffna Peninsula in 1999. He was widely believed to be behind the abduction and beheading of a Karaveddy youth, Rajaratnam Rajeswaran, 23, at the PLOTE offices in Nelliady, located 5 km southwest of Point-Pedro.

The decapitated body was recovered in from a cess pit behind the office of the PLOTE at at Puthuthottam, Nelliyadi. The victim's head was recovered inside a drain near Kasturiar Road in Jaffna town.

Suthaharan appeared in court proceedings in Point Pedro courts in the murder case, and later absconded, went into hiding, and started a family in Puliyankudal.