Soldier suspected in C-4 case found dead

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 March 2005, 05:23 GMT]
A Sri Lanka army soldier wanted in connection with poisoning seventeen commando trainees with C-4 explosive in Kokkuveli near Vavuniya last month was found dead Monday evening in the jungles in Omanthai, 18 kilometres north of the northern border town, Police said. Sri Lanka army said the dead man was Corporal Dharmaratna. Vavuniya judge ordered Police to investigate the circumstance of the soldier’s death.

The corporal had allegedly made the trainees smell the C-4 as part of their training in Kokkuveli on 19 February. Later seventeen of them were admitted to hospital after they fell ill. Medical authorities found that the C-4 explosive had been mixed in the food eaten by the commando trainees. Corporal Dharmaratna who was suspected of mixing the C-4 in their food went missing since then.