Man commits suicide after assault

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A young man, Sivakumaran (30), committed suicide in distress after being assaulted by members of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) who had beaten him up for condemning TELO activists for killing a youth in cold blood in Aaraipattai seven kilometers south of Batticaloa, said sources in that village.

He had taken his life by drinking poison.

TELO activists had shot the youth dead after suspending him from a rope tied to his neck at Vannanthurai in Aaraipattai in the latter part of last month. He had been shot seven times.

Mr. Sivakumaran was assaulted despite being the brother-in-law of TELO's Aaraipattai regional office head and the local Pradeshiya Sabha chairman Mr. Robert Navaratnarajah.