Arrested youths in Delft released on bail

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 November 2005, 13:54 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police on Tuesday produced seven Tamil youths before the Magistrate P. Subramaniam in Urhavathurai (Kayts) Tuesday. The youths who were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy in Nedunthivu (Delft) 36 km southwest of Jaffna town in the search operations following the reports of a missing SLN soldier. The Magistrate released the youths on cash bail of rupees 5,000 each. The police had not submitted any evidence justifying the remand of the youths, legal sources said.

Four of the youths were from Nedunthivu.

The other three youths, Mahenthiran Pirathapan, 25, from Vaddukoddai, Ramachandran Sathees, 20 and Mahenthiran Sutharsan, 24, from Pandatharippu Sillalai were coconut dealers who had gone to Nedunthivu on business.

The Magistrate ordered the youths from Nedunthivu to appear before the tempoary police post in Nedunthivu and instructed the other three youths to appear before the Urhavathurai Police.

The fate of the SLN soldier is not known.