Para - military accused of murder

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Additional District Judge for Batticaloa, K. Thangavadivel, pronounced that A. Pakiyanathan, of the Razeek Group, a paramilitary organisation working with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the East, was guilty of murdering Parasuraman Mohanaraj, also of the Razeek Group on Thursday, said sources in Batticaloa.

He made these observations at the inquest held yesterday on the death.

Pakiyanathan was then produced before J. Visvanathan the District Judge for Batticaloa, who remanded the suspect in custody for 14 days. Pakiyanathan had told the court that Mohanaraj had killed himself.

Seenithamby Thiviyakumar (38), giving evidence at the inquest said that he had seen Mohanaraj and Pakiyanathan speaking to each other in the premises of the Razeek Group's camp in Batticaloa. A little while later he had seen the two trying to grab a gun that was nearby. Then he had heard the sound of a gunshot and found Mohanaraj fallen on his side fatally wounded.

On the evidence transpiring from the post-mortem carried out by Dr. K. Chandrabalan, Mr. Thangavadivel said that Mohanaraj, who had two bullet wounds in his chest, could not have shot himself. He said the evidence indicated that Mohanaraj had been shot at point-blank range.

During the court proceedings it transpired that Pakiyanathan was not registered as a cadre with the Razeek group. Mohanaraj however was a registered cadre with the group.

Earlier reports said that Parasuraman Mohanarasa was killed when the gun of a another cadre went off accidentally, said sources added

The incident took place in the Razeek group's camp in Batticaloa Town. Mohanarasa, who was shot in the chest, is from Chenkaladi.