No funds for analysis says CID

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 March 2001, 19:46 GMT]
(Correction) The Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lankan Police told the magistrate hearing the Chemmani case Tuesday in Colombo that the DNA and forensic reports on the Chemmani skeletal remains were not available because the Ministry of Defence had not allocated funds for sending the bones for forensic examination abroad. The CID had got quotations for the forensic examination of the skeletal remains and the DNA tests of the blood samples taken from the next of kin of the persons who were believed killed and buried in Chemmani.

The skeletal remains were exhumed on information provided by a SLA lance corporal convicted in the rape and murder of the Jaffna schoolgirl, Krishanthy Kumaraswamy. The Chemmani investigation began two years ago under the directions of the Jaffna magistrate.

Four soldiers who are suspects in the case were produced in court. The magistrate postponed the hearing to 15 May.

Hundreds of civilians arrested by the SLA in 1996 and reported missing were murdered and buried in mass graves in Chemmani near Jaffna town alleges the convicted corporal.

The skeletal remains of several men and women were exhumed from several sites identified by the convicted soldier in Chemmani.

The case was transferred to Colombo last year.