3RD LEAD

Pillayan operative Ragu slain in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2008, 08:59 GMT]
A private secretary of Pillayan and another person were shot dead while they were traveling in former TMVP spokesperson Asad Moulana's car at Oruwala in Athurugiriya in Nugegoda Friday around 11:30 a.m., Police said. The slain key operative, an associate of Pillayan was identified as Kumaraswami Nandagoban alias Ragu. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, since his deportation back to Sri Lanka from UK, has been demanding the removal of Ragu from the TMVP.

The 38-year-old key operative Ragu, who is a native of Ka'luvaagnchikkudi, was fluent in three languages Tamil, English and Sinhala, informed sources said.

Ragu, who came from Australia to join Pillayan, was TMVP party leader when TMVP registered as political party a year ago.

The other operative who was slain with Ragu was identified as 29-year-old Sameer Rajkumar.

The killing comes amid reports of intensified dispute between Karuna and Pillayan.

Pillayan visited the attack site, police said.

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