Man shot by TELO cadres

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Members of the TELO working with the Sri Lankan army in the Chenkalady area, 12 kilometers north of Batticaloa town, shot dead a man in division four of the adjacent Eravur town around noon today.

The body of the person, estimated to be around 35 years, was handed over to the Eravur hospital by the TELO which claimed that it was that of an LTTE operative.

The Eravur hospital followed procedure and informed the ICRC in Batticaloa town. The ICRC took the body later this afternoon to the office of the Liberation Tigers at Illuppadichenai, seven kilometers west of Chenkaladi junction on the Batticaloa - Badulla road.

But the LTTE informed ICRC that the dead person had nothing to do with them.

The ICRC brought back the body to the Eravur hospiatl this evening.

Residents say that the TELO in Chenkaladi frequently coerces itenerant traders to pay up.

The person who was shot dead this afternoon was a civilian who might have refused to pay the monies demanded by TELO they said.

"The truth will be known when the man is identified" said a hospital source in Eravur this evening.