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Saturday, 22 October 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
A special team of sleuths from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) were flown to Jaffna yesterday to investigate into the deaths of two students of the Jaffna University in a suspected shooting by Police in Kankesanthurai on Thursday night.
Nadaraja Kajan and Pavunraj Sulakshan were students at the Science and Arts Faculties of the University of Jaffna, and were reportedly travelling by motorbike at about 11.30 PM when the incident took place.
Five policemen have been arrested in connection with the suspected shooting, and immediately suspended from service, the Government Information Department said in a news release last night.
“All necessary steps are being taken to ensure the law is maintained in this regard,” the news release added.
“The post-mortem inquiry revealed that there is a gunshot injury in the body of the rider,” Police Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said last night.
Correspondents in the area said that Jaffna Magistrate S. Satheeskaran had visited the site of the incident to commence investigations.
The main opposition Tamil National Alliance “unequivocally condemned” the incident that killed two university students and said Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan had already raised their concerns with President Maithripala Sirisena.
The TNA said that since then, a special police unit had been deployed to Jaffna to investigate the incident on the orders of the President.
There were some reports of tension in Jaffna yesterday when university students gathered outside the Jaffna Hospital while the post-mortem inquiry was underway. ITAK General Secretary Mavai Senathirajah visited the hospital and urged the students to remain calm, reports from Jaffna said.
There were suspicions that the other student may have been killed in the crash that occurred after the rider was shot, Daily FT learns.
Highly placed Government sources told Daily FT that the first reports on the incident filed by the police had said the two students had died in a road accident. However a senior police official in the area had found the reports suspicious and launched his own investigation that found evidence of shots fired, the sources said. The police officers involved in the incident initially claimed that they had fired shots into the air because the rider of the motorbike had not stopped when instructed by a police patrol.
The Government had immediately ordered a full-scale investigation into the two students’ deaths by the CID, the sources added. One of the students killed in the incident hailed from the Kilinochchi District, while the other was a resident of Jaffna.
Opposition Leader Sampanthan had also spoken with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and expressed his dissatisfaction regarding the incident, the TNA said in a statement last night. Sampanthan also requested the IGP to conduct an impartial investigation and take immediate action.
“The TNA expresses its deep regret about this incident and would like to convey its condolences to the families, friends, and the loved ones of those deceased,” the Tamil party said in its statement. (DB)
