Arrested youth found dead in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 November 2001, 09:31 GMT]
A youth arrested by the Police Thursday morning at Mailankarachchi, near Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north was Batticaloa, was found dead by a school Friday morning. The parents of the dead youth said that the Police had asked them to sign a document claiming that their son, Mahesan Manaalan, 24, was a member of the Liberation Tigers. They said that the Police refused them permission to release Manaalan’s body from the Valaichenai hospital this morning because they refused to sign the document. However, after the medical officer at the hospital refused to accept the Police claim on procedural grounds, the body was handed over to the parents later in the day.

Manaalan had visited Vaakarai, 64 kilometres north of Batticaloa on 20 November to see relatives. He was returning on a motorbike with a friend Thursday morning around 8.30 a.m. when he was stopped at the Mailankarachchi Police checkpoint. The Police at the point had told Manaalan’s friend to leave.

Manaalan’s body was found near the Oddamaavadi Maththiya Mahavithiyaalayam this morning. Police claimed two cyanide capsules were found on his body.