Tamil woman, man reported abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 02:04 GMT]
Unidentified men have allegedly abducted two Tamil civilians, a woman and a man, in Colombo in two separate incidents on 28th and 29th of April, sources close to the victims said.

A young woman Naduvilaan Saraswathy, 31, of Kaithadi Centre, Jaffna resident of Kathiresan Road, Colombo was abducted at 10:00 p.m, on April 29th by a group of unidentified men operating from a white van. The relatives of the victim have already reported the incident to Deputy Minister P.Rathakrishnan of Upcountry People’s Front (UP).

The excerpts from a Press release by UPF regarding the abduction follow:

“Naduvilaan Saraswathy, 31, residing at 74 D- Kathiresan road, Colombo 13 was abducted at 10: 00 p.m. on 29 April together with another young woman Sinnathamby Gowri.However, Gowri was later dropped by the abductors near Sivan Temple in Kochchikadai.

“Armed men some in military uniforms and some on civil dress together with a female police officer arriving at the residence of these victims called them out stating that their identity cards have to be checked, forcibly blind folded them and took them away in a white van.

“A complaint has been lodged at Aaadupaddi police post regarding the abduction”, the press release stated.

In a separate incident, Karunenthiran Karunaharan, a van driver from Jaffna residing in Mattakuliya, Colombo has gone missing since 28 April. The victim employed in Colombo since 2001 was abducted at about 8:30 p.m. by a group of four men two of whom were dressed in military fatigues, his mother and sister stated in their complaint lodged with the Deputy Minister Rathakrishnan as well as with Mattakuliya police.

Complaints regarding the two incidents of abduction has been made to International Commission of Red Cross (ICRC), Human Rights Commission (HRC) and the Monitoring Commission for investigation into the disappearances and abductions.

The Deputy Minister has already contacted higher officials in police department regarding the two incidents of abductions, sources close to the Minister said.