News
Three suspects of abduction of former Eastern Uni VC claim they were ‘not involved’
View(s):By Ranjith Padmasiri
Three suspects detained over the abduction and disappearance of former Vice-Chancellor of the Eastern University, Prof. Sivasubramanium Raveendranath, have given statements before Mount Lavinia Magistrate Chathurika De Silva claiming that they were not involved in the incident. The statements before the Magistrate have been given under Section 127 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The three suspects who were produced before court are residents of Batticaloa and Valaichchenai. They are Nadarasa Nagulendran alias ‘Simbu,’ Kadirgamar Thambi Jayakeesan alias ‘Jeyandan’ and Nimal Devasugan alias ‘Jayakanthan.’
The suspects had informed the Magistrate through their counsel Senior Attorney-at-Law Asoka Weerasooriya that they were giving these statements freely and without any form of duress. The Magistrate decided to record the statements after considering a request by Mr. Weerasooriya.
When the suspects were produced in court, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) informed that former Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias ‘Pillayan,’ who is currently being held under detention orders after being arrested over the case, will be named as a suspect at the next court date.
Producing the suspects before Mount Lavinia Magistrate Pasan Amarasena, the CID informed court that there was an eyewitness to the abduction and that he had given a statement to the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on the incident. The CID further informed court that the eyewitness’s statement implicated the suspects in the abduction.
Appearing for the suspects with Attorneys-at-Law Akarsha Weerasooriya and Pasan Karunarathna, Senior Attorney-at-Law Asoka Weerasooriya said the CID had interrogated the suspects in Tamil but had obtained their signatures on statements written in Sinhala. He stressed that the suspects had no idea about the contents of the statements they had signed and that they had simply told investigators what they knew of the case and what they underwent.
After considering matters, the Magistrate postponed further hearing to September 8 and orders the CID to report progress that had been made in the case on that date.
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