Beheaded youth's widow gives evidence

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 August 2000, 18:33 GMT]
"A little boy came running home around 11 a.m. and told me that soldiers had lopped off my husband's head. I ran towards the field where he was working and saw some soldiers taking a human head in a white bag. In the field I found my husband's headless body" said Ambikapathy Santhiramohan, 20, giving evidence at the inquest into her husband's death before Acting Magistrate for Batticaloa, D.C Chinniah, last evening at the Eravur Police station. Ambikapathy was married four months ago to Arunasalam Santhiramoham, 20, who was beheaded in reprisal Wednesday following a firefight at Sithaandy, 24 kilometers north of Batticaloa in which two Sri Lanka army troopers were wounded.

The Acting Magistrate returned a verdict of homicide today and asked the Eravur Police to conduct investigations. Dr.S. Sukumar, District Medical Officer for Eravur, in his report at the inquest said that the death was caused due to beheading with a sharp instrument.

He noted that there were gunshot wounds in Santhiramohan's right thigh and armpit and a knife wound on the deceased left forehead. There was an injury on the youth's left shoulder caused after the death due to an explosion, the doctor observed.

Wanniaratchi Gamganamge Sanath Kumara, 24, a soldier from the Morokkoddanchenai Sri Lanka army camp, giving evidence at the inquest, said that he was on a patrol on Wednesday and had heard gunfire near the lagoon around 11.30 a.m. The Tigers had tried to encircle his patrol thereafter and there was a firefight according to him. When he was returning to camp with his group, he had seen a body which was then handed over by them to the camp, said Sanath Kumara in his evidence at the inquest.

Eravur Assistant Superintendent of Police Ajith Rohana directed the witnesses at the inquest.

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