Motorcycle gang abducts family man in Valikaamam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2008, 19:14 GMT]
Unidentified armed men arriving on more than seven motorcycles abducted a family man from his house in Cha'ndilippaay area in Valikaamam Wednesday night, according to the complaint made by his wife to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office Thursday. Local residents said that the abduction is related to the Monday night attack on a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) road patrol unit at Maasiyappiddi allegedly by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The abducted family man is Antony Arulappu, 58, a building mason and a resident of 7th Mile post area in Cha'ndilippaay.

Maanippaay police arrested Nagarasa Vijayarasa, another trustee board member of Maasiyappiddi Saiva temple, and produced him before Mallaakam magistrate Thursday who directed the police to detain him for interrogation.

Maanipaay police, during a search conducted Tuesday in Kalvayal Murukan temple and Cheera'ni Amman temple in Valikaamam West, arrested the resident priests of the two Saiva temples and eight others including the two trustees of the temples and persons who came to worship.

Meanwhile, the parents of the youth shot and killed Sunday at Naavaladi area in Thirunelveali in Jaffna identified their son's body kept in Jaffna Teaching Hospital mortuary.

The youth killed was identified as Rathinam Satheesan, 33, a family man and a trader from Sarasvathi Veethi in Urumpiraay North.

Satheesan who was engaged in business activities in Vallipurakkoayil area in Point Pedro had left home Sunday around 8:00 a.m but had not returned home, his parents told the police.

Jaffna magistrate Mr. Vasanthasenan directed the police to hand over the body to the parents.