Police shoot dead Tamil fish vendor in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 June 2008, 02:43 GMT]
Vavuniya police shot dead a fish vendor Tuesday early morning close to the refugee camp located in Poonthoddam in Vavuniyaa, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The victim's wife identified the body at the inquest held at the site by Vavuniyaa Magistrate M.Y.M.Isardeen same day morning around 9:00 a.m. The body was handed over to the Vavuniyaa general hospital for postmortem examination.

The victim was identified as Maruthamuthu Kaalichelvam, 31, a father of five children.

Kalaichelvam's wife said both had been staying in Poonthoddam refugee camp,

However, the Vavuniyaa Police have claimed that Kalaichelvam was a member of the LTTE, and they recovered a cellphone and grenade from him.