Body of disappeared youth found in Karainagar

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 May 2006, 11:49 GMT]
The body of Rasan Santhakumar 26, a fisherman from Karainagar, Jaffna was recovered from a fresh grave found in the vicinity of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) camp in Karainagar area Friday afternoon, said sources from Karainagar. Santhaumar went missing Wednesday after he went out with his bike, relatives said. Kayts police recovered the body and had handed it to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital for postmortem examinations, hospital sources said.

Relatives located Santhakumar's bicycle close to the SLN camp and after observing freshly dug soil closeby, discovered his body in a grave filled with soil and gravel.

This is the second killing within a month in this area which is under direct and full control of the Karainagar SLN.

Kayts police took custody of the bicycle as evidence.

"We suspect that gruesome killing was done to revenge Santhakumar for having registered a complaint against the SLN with the SLHRC," said Kayts residents.

Santhakumar and companions were seriously injured in an earlier attack by the SLN troopers while fishing in the Kayts waters. The injured fishermen were admitted to the Jaffna Teaching hospital and the incident was reported to the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission's Jaffna office. The SLHRC investigated into the incident, said the sources.