Abductions on rise in Vanni, Red Cross joins SL Police in refusing to register complaints

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 December 2011, 07:47 GMT]
A 23-year-old Tamil youth was abducted Tuesday night by armed men who came in a white van while the youth, Ganeshamoorthy Rathan, was talking to his friends along roadside in Kaadduvinayaakar temple area of his native village, Mu'l'liyava'lai of Mullaiththeevu district. Mr. Rathan was brought to his house and instructed to park his bicycle at his house. When the mother of the victim suspected that her son was under pressure by unknown men who accompanied him, the men pulled out a gun and said they were from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the SL Police and instructed Mr. Rathan to get into the van. When the family members went to the SL Red Cross office situated in Mullaiththeevu, the officials at the office refused to accept the complaint and said they do not register such complaints.

The SL Police in Mu'l'liyava'lai was also resisting to register the complaint from the family till Wednesday. The police later allowed the family to file the complaint.

Ganeshamoorthy Rathan was not associated with the LTTE in the past, according to his family and relatives.

The abductions, again on increase in Vanni, have created an atmosphere of tension and fear among the Tamil people.

Informed paramilitary circles say that the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry in Colombo is behind an elite squad that carries out many of the abductions these days. The armed men who usually come in unregistered vehicles also seem to instruct the victims to park or hand over their bicycles or motorbikes to their family or relatives without evoking suspicion. During the abductions, the victims are attached wireless devices and are accompanied by men in civil who keep an eye on them, making a smooth appearance of the abduction.