Postmortem reveals burn marks on youth's body

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 November 2000, 00:50 GMT]
Coroner of Eravur, P.Veerakutty, investigating the Saturday killing of a Tamil youth at Palaiyadithona in Sithandy by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, returned a verdict of homicide on Sunday. Dr.K. Sukumar, the Judicial Medical Officer of Eravur, said in his post-mortem report that the death was caused by gun-shot injuries and that the body had several cigarette burn marks.

Nadarasa Senthuran, 17, of Kinnaiyadi was shot dead by the SLA soldiers on the coast of Palaiyadithona, 15 km north of Batticaloa, on Saturday. An inquest was held at the nearby Eravur hospital on Sunday.

A SLA corporal, Kulasuriya Joseph Fernando, testifying at the inquest said soldiers lying in ambush saw two youths and ordered them to stop. But instead, the youths started running and troops opened fire, killing one of them. The corporal said they later found the youth's body and a grenade. He said the youth was a member of the Liberation Tigers.

The youth's parents said Senthuran studied at Karuwakerny Vidyalayam (school) and was unemployed. He was killed while he was on his way to meet relatives on Saturday, looking for a job.

The Coroner ordered the Eravur police to conduct further investigations and to submit a report. He ordered the youth's body to be handed over to his parents.