Muralitharan's paramilitary coordinator shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 May 2011, 22:28 GMT]
Two unidentified gunmen, who came in a motorbike, shot and killed 38-year-old Rasamanikkam Mathiyalakan, a SLFP coordinator and an assistant to the paramilitary leader cum SL deputy minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, Wednesday around 2:00 p.m. The killing took place at Mathiyalakan's residence located along Kalladiththeru Lagoon. Mr. Mathiyalakan was earlier an operative of the EPDP and later was associated with the Sri Lanka Army intelligence unit.

Mathialagan has also been holding the post of president of the Batticaloa-Aanaippanthi Pi'l'laiyaar Koayil and has been an organizer of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of Rajapaksa regime.

Sri Lanka Army and SL Police Wednesday evening launched a large scale search operation in several parts of the Batticaloa district following the killing of Mathiyalakan.

The SLA soldiers and police blocked all roads in the city and its suburbs and checked all vehicles and pedestrians.

Two of the paramilitary groups operated by the SL military in the district are said to be working against each other, especially after Mr. Muralitharan joined the ruling UPFA.