3 abducted Tamils found shot to death in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 October 2006, 21:33 GMT]
Three Tamil residents in Colombo, abducted by unidentified persons driving a white van on Thursday, were found shot to death in Piliyandala and Ragama areas, Police sources said. People Vigilance Committee (PVC), a Committee comprising a number of political parties and civil right organizations in Colombo, in press release issued Friday said, nine Tamils have been killed and thirty-three have disappeared in the last few weeks in Colombo. The release added that nine persons have been released after paying ransom.

David Vikneswaran, 35, and his wife Mrs. Thirukeswary Vikneswaran, 30, living at Maththegoda Housing Scheme in Maharagama, were kidnapped around 1:00 am Thursday and their bullet riddled bodies were recovered by Police in Piliyandala area around 6:00 am in the same morning.

In another incident, Regi Balananthan, 30, was kidnapped at Aluthmawaththa, in Colombo-15 around 10:00 pm Thursday and his body with bullet wounds was found at roadside in Ragama- Walpola area, sources said.

The President of PVC, Srithunga Jayasooriya, and Mano Ganesan, a parliamentarian for Colombo district, accompanied relatives of the victims to the spot crime scene to identify the bodies Friday morning.

In the last two days 3 more Tamils, a trader Jeyaraja, 46, from Moratuwa, Maheswaratheepan, 25, fromm Modara, and Shan George, 15, a student from Mattakkuliya, have disappeared, PVC said in its press release.

Srithunga Jayasooriya, Mano Ganesan, and Vikramabahu Karunaratna, urged the civil society to join hands and pressure the Sri Lanka Government to take urgent steps to stop the alarming escalation of abduction killings, sources in Colombo said.