Nishantha Gajanayaka accused of abductions and killings bailed out

Colombo No: 01 Magistrate Nishantha Hapuarachchi bailed out Nishantha Gajanayaka and three others who were kept in custody for eight months for charges of abductions and killings.

They were ordered cash bail on Rs. 50,000 each and Rs, 2.5 million personal bai. of public servants,

All of them were ordered to surrender their passports to CID.

CID requested from the courts to act in accordance with the normal law regarding the suspects.

CID informed that no witnesses had come forward and one witness who left the country for Austrailia had been tried to bring back via Interpol.

Counsel Manjula Pathiraja appeared for Nishantha Gajanayaka while Counsels Sanjaya Gamage and Anton Senanayaka appeared for the other suspects.

The opposition accused the government for being in connivance with the criminals who abducted Tamils and Muslims for taking ransom. The Civil Monitoring Committee convened by MP Mano Ganeshan also led a campaign against them and the UN was also informed of them.

UNP MP Lakshman Senevirathna first accused that the main suspect Nishantha Gajanayaka was behind the abductions and killings. Several days after this exposure, Gajanayaka was arrested and detained.

Several government MPs brought a no-confidence motion against MP Senevirathna based on this exposure.

Third party suspected behind the killings in south, says the President

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse says that he has suspicion over the involvement of a third party in the killings in south since there are LTTE associates among the cannabis growers.

At a discussion with foreign and local guest journalists at Temple Trees, the President stated that he did not believe that the two recent 'sound bomb' explosions in Colombo Railwaystaion and LakeHouse were conducted by LTTE.

He further said that the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) proposals would be implemented to seek a political solution to the ethnic problem. The Provincial Council system will be implemented fully, he said.

The President said that he did not believe a military solution to the Tamil problem and however, there was no option to war on LTTE terrorism.

The President said to media that he had ordered to the APRC to submit the proposals tomorrow and he would declare them on January 25.

The President emphasized that the APRC proposals were not his proposals but the proposals of all parties.

The President recalled that he was the first to oppose the ceasefire with the LTTE in 2002 as the Opposition Leader and he had to wait two years to abolish it. He further recalled his statement at a mass rally at Mathara that the ceasefire would be abrogated if LTTE targeted civilians.

Ravi, wife and father-in-law pickpocket Rs. 20 million from a foreigner

Colombo Fort Magistrate and Additional District Judge Namal Bandara ordered the CID yesterday (21) to probe the bank accounts of a company belonged to UNP Colombo district MP Ravi Karunanayaka over an alleged misappropriation of Euro 145,000 invested in the company by a foreign national.

CID made a request from the court to probe the accounts based on a complaint lodged by Antonian P. Strawicks who is a resident of Sri Lanka for 22 years. He ran a tourist hotel in the name Hotel Lalanika in Ambalangoda until 1997 and later sold the property to one T.R.R. Rajan of Katugasthota, Kandy in 1997.

With the support of the property sales broker Shivantha Chinthaka Rodrigo, the complainer has approached Janesha Mahasri Jayawardhana identified himself as the father-in-law of then Minister Ravi Jayawardhana and invested Euro 200,000 in a company named Rotten Vander belonged to the Minister.

He has invested money in the company with the promise of monthly dividends and assistance to obtain residential visa. Janesha Mahasri Jayawardhana and Melatine Viranthi Karunanayaka who appeared as MP Karunanayaka's wife signed the agreement on behalf of the company as the Chairman and a director respectively.

After several months, paying dividends came to an end all attempts of the complainer to contact the above mentioned persons failed. A check (No: 294951) issued by the company under the number 0141000000469 account of Nations Trust Bank Metropolitan Branch on 10 - 07 - 2005 to the value of Rs. 500,000 also returned.

The complainer said that while he filed a case in Colombo District Court against this fraud, the company was closed and a new company under the name of I.J.S. Global Lanka was launched in the same place under the same directorate.

CID has recorded statements from ten individuals and sought the permission from courts to probe the relevant accounts of Seylan Bank - Ambalangoda Branch, Nation Trust - York Street Branch and Commercial Bank - Bristol Street Branch. Court granted permission and informed the CID to resubmit the complaint after the investigation.

UTHAYAN to be silenced...

The Free Media Movement is deeply concerned and condemns the attempt to silence the UTHAYAN newspaper, published in Jaffna.

According to the Managing Director of the newspaper, Mr. E. Saravanapavan, the threat had been made over the phone, and the caller is alleged to have told the staff member who answered the phone, that the newspaper must stop functioning immediately. The threatening phone call had been made to the newspaper office on January 6, 2008 around 10.45 a.m.

Upon the staff member inquiring as to where the call was being made from, the caller had said it was from the Kayts police station. A complaint regarding this has been made to the Jaffna Police on January 8, 2008.

This is not the first instance that the UTHAYAN newspaper has been threatened. Intimidation of the newspaper has ranged from its staff being killed, to attacks to its building and obstructing the distribution of the newspaper.

The FMM reiterates its stand that freedom of expression is essential for democracy to flourish and requests the Inspector General of Police to look into the matter immediately and stop intimidation of the media.

Suspect killer of Maheswaran not identified at the identification parade

The suspect killer of UNP MP T. Maheswaran who was produced to an identification parade under case number 9521 at the number 03 Magistrate Court of Colombo this morning was not identified by the police officer who shot at the suspect.

However, the police officer earlier said to media that he identified the suspect at the hospital after he was admitted there with gunshot injuries received from him following the shooting at MP Maheswaran at the Sivam Kovil, Kochchikade.

SSP Anura Senanayaka earlier mentioned at a press briefing that police had identified the suspect as the killer and the need was to look into his links.

Two UNP MPs are in danger...

Badulla district UNP MP Lakshman Senevirathna said at the parliament yesterday (08) that a discussion had been held at higher echelons to kill him and another UNP MP.

Stating that a decision had been taken to shut the mouths of his and MP Johnston Fernando, he urged the Speaker to take the responsibility of their security.

MP Senevirathna recalled how his exposure in the parliament that the abductions and the killings of Tamil and Muslim businessmen were carried out by an Air Force official called Gajanayaka was proved right. Government MPs filed a no-confidence motion against him but later the CID arrested the suspect.

MP Senevirathna said to Lanka-e-News that he could not reveal all the details of the discussion at this moment. However, he said that several top officials of a top level place related to defense had discussed to harm the lives of MP Senevirathna and Johnston Fernando.

BBC question based on 'Lanka E News' report - Keheliya

Defence spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella in Parliament yesterday said, remarks made by him to the BBCs Sandeshaya programme, that the assassin of MP T. Maheswaran was connected to the EPDP, had been misconstrued by Opposition members.

While accepting the fact that he had said the assassin had connections to Minister Douglas Devananda, Minister Rambukwella said the interview had ended with him stressing that a final conclusion regarding the murder could only be reached following a full investigation.

"What I said during the interview has been criticized by Opposition MPs without taking into account everything I said in the interview. At the end of the interview I stressed that only a full investigation into the assassination would reveal the truth behind the incident", he said.

The Minister however accepted that during the interview he said the assassin was connected to Minister Douglas Devananda, but noted that this was in response to a 'leading question' posed by the BBC reporter.