Colombo Crime Division arrests press owner in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 September 2010, 18:25 GMT]
A special team of Colombo Crime Division arrested the owner of Churapi Achchakam (printing press), C. Kuruthev, in Jaffna Tuesday and took him to Colombo for inquiry, sources in Jaffna said. Kuruthev’s brother, the General Manager of the Tamil daily Namathu Eezhanaadu, C. Sivamaharajah, had been assassinated at his house in Thellippazhai in August 2006. Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devananda, the head of Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), had sought to acquire Churapi Achchakam to print a Tamil Daily in the name of Thinamurasu to which Kuruthev had not consented, media circles in Jaffna said.

Namathu Eezhanaadu daily had been printed in Churapi Achchakam and after the killing of Sivamaharajah it had stopped printing the daily.

Churapi Achchakam located on Naavalar Veethi in Nalloor had been under the control of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after the death of Sivamaharajah.

Kuruthev has been only printing materials ordered by private persons after that.

It is alleged that Douglas Devananda had been trying to entice the employees of Namathu Eezhanaadu to work for his Thinamurasu daily, the sources said.