Karuna assaults landowner in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2015, 23:52 GMT]
An armed squad led by paramilitary operative and former SL deputy minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna) on Saturday assaulted a Tamil farmer, R. Vanaraja, while he was engaged at cultivation in his own agricultural land at Noo'ru-eakkar in Kiraan, Batticaloa. Mr Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan was claiming ownership to the land. The land was earlier under the control of the Tigers after Vanaraja family had displaced from his village. Later, Muralitharan, who defected from the LTTE had seized the land for commercial purposes, news sources in Batticaloa said.

The incident took place around 10:30 a.m. The landowner was rushed to Vaazhaich-cheanai Base Hospital with injuries.

The armed squad that came in a van together with Muralitharan has threatened the workers who were engaged at cultivation in Mr Vanaraja's land.

A complaint has been registered with Vaazhaich-cheanai Police. The SL police is expected to summon Mr Muralitharan for investigations in the following days, sources in Batticaloa said.

Kiraan villagers have alleged that the SL military was continuing to operate Muralitharan as a paramilitary leader and that he was still in possession of firearms.

In the meantime, a member of the Eastern Provincial Council, who did not wish to be named told TamilNet that the UNP section of the new regime was having a secret deal with Muralitharan.