New Details Surface On Eknaligoda Murder?

By Nirmala Kannangara-Sunday, November 15, 2015

Speculation is rife whether

disappeared Lanka e-news
journalist, Prageeth Eknaligoda
was murdered at the Plantains
Point army camp in Trincomalee
and was buried there before the
body was dumped at seas off
Trincomalee. It is alleged that it
was the Civil Defence Force personnel, who had buried Eknaligodas body, which is
said to have come out of the pit due to flash floods and was later dumped at deep seas.
More details into Eknaligodas murder are now coming to light alleging that the
journalist was murdered on the instructions of the then Defence Secretary Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa.
Meanwhile, following the Homagama Acting Magistrates order on November 10 to the
Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the two Army Lieutenant Colonels and the
army sergeant the alleged main suspects in the disappearance of Eknaligoda, were
further remanded. With the latest developments into the investigations, more vital
information is expected to come to the fore in the days to come.
Further details about how Eknaligoda was taken from one army camp to another after
he was abducted on January 24, 2010 two days before the 2010 presidential election,
has come to light to confirm that Eknaligoda was murdered and thrown to the deep
seas off Trincomalee on the directives of a senior official of the countrys defence
establishment during the former regime.
Following the arrest of the former LTTE cadre, Sudha, who was taken into custody for
the killing of former UNP parliamentarian Nadaraja Raviraj, the CID arrested 11
suspects for Ekneligoda abduction on evidence revealed during Sudhas interrogation.
It was on Sudhas information that two former LTTE cadres were arrested, who later
revealed who was behind Eknaligodas disappearance. It is also said that these two,
Sumathipala Suresh Kumar and Sathya Master, were attached to the LTTE intelligence

unit and it was on their information, Sergeant Major Ranbanda, who was attached to
the army intelligence unit, was arrested in Kurunegala. This was followed with the
arrest of two Colonels attached to the army intelligence unit and seven others were
taken into custody.
The two LTTE intelligence carders were attached to the Karuna faction and it was
they who had allegedly abducted Eknaligoda from Rajagiriya on January 24, 2010 and
had dropped him off at the Giritale camp and it is later alleged that Eknaligoda was
forcibly drowned in the seas off Trincomalee.
Amongst the arrested are Lieutenant Colonel
Kumararatne, who was in charge of the Giritale
army camp, Lieutenant Colonel Siriwardena,
Staff Sergeant Rajapakse and Corporal Jayalath.

The sea off Trincomalee where

Ekaneligodas body is alleged to have
been thrown

According to Sergeant Major Ranbanda, who was

attached to the Giritale Camp at the time,
Eknaligoda was brought for interrogation and
after a rigorous interrogation by Major Jagath
Wijesuriya, Eknaligoda had been taken away and
he (Ranbanda) had not seen the journalist
thereafter. He has further confessed as to how a
Colonel attached to the same army camp was
aware of Eknaligodas fate.

Major Jagath Wijesuriya, who was in charge of

the Girithale camp, where Eknaligoda was
brought and questioned, was later promoted to
the rank of Major General by the then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa,
although there were allegations leveled against him (Wijesuriya) for theft of cattle.
This promotion is said to have been given because on the friendship the then Defence
Secretary had with Wijesuriya.
However, according to latest information received, Lieutenant Colonel Shammi
Kumararatna is also accused of the operation to abduct Ekneligoda where the latter
was taken to his personal agricultural farm in Sigiriya and later to the army
intelligence headquarters at Giritale in the Polonnaruwa district. It is alleged that
Eknaligoda was rigorously interrogated by Lt. Col. Ratnayake and his staff for several
days before his fate was decided.
After the arrest of the suspects the army personnel on the advice of the Attorney
General the Homagama Magistrate on September 28th had granted permission to
the CID to take the suspects to the Giritale camp between October 3 and 13 for further
investigations.
According to reliable information, Eknaligoda was detained at Giritale for one week

and had later been taken to the Sorivila army camp at Manampitiya in the
Dimbulagala police division. Sorivila is a Tamil village and is yet to be cleared for
landmines. Further reports state that Eknaligoda is alleged to have been transferred to
the Plaintains Point army camp in Trincomalee where Eknaligoda is believed to have
breathed his last.
Meanwhile, it is reported that the CID who went to the Giritale army camp together
with the suspects had recorded statements from army personnel at the camp and had
gone through all documents to obtain more details into when Eknaligoda was brought
to the camp and by whom.
The CID officials who conduct the investigation is said to have obtained the relevant
details that show who had visited the Giritale camp at the time Eknaligoda was
brought in. Details into the camp attendance registry and those who were on leave and
the vehicle registration numbers that had entered the camp during the days the
abduction had taken place too have been obtained.
Any army vehicle that leaves the camp to go a distance of more than 20km has to
receive permission and these details too is said to have obtained by the CID to see as to
where Eknaligoda had been taken from Giritale. These officials also had obtained
mobile phone details of certain intelligence officers in the army to find out as to whom
they have contacted and from whom they received calls. Those who have worked in the
camp at that time had also been questioned to obtain more details, CID sources
claimed.
It has also been revealed how Eknaligoda was taken to the Soriwila transit camp in
Manampitiya which was under the control of Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias
Karuna Amman and Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pilleyan.
It is believed that Eknaligoda, who was a critic of the Rajapaksa regime, was abducted
and murdered for compiling The Family Tree a book on Rajapaksa and his family
members involved in politics and holding high posts in the government. He had also
produced a 40-minute documentary portraying the then presidential candidate
General Sarath Fonseka on secrets of winning the war.

The muddy area where Ekneligodas body is beleived

to have been buried

After Eknaligodas abduction,

Sandya Eknaligoda wife of
Prageeth Eknaligoda had gone to
the Homagama police to lodge a
complaint which the police had
refused to record. Later she had
lodged complaints at Welikada and
Thalangama police stations.
Earlier, Eknaligoda was kidnapped
and had been questioned by an

unknown gang.
Meanwhile, CID sources further said that it is now conducting an investigation to
obtain an audio tape a conversation the LTTE intelligence cadres who worked handin-glove with the army intelligence unit had with Eknaligoda at his farm in Dambulla
to obtain more information into the abduction.
This audio tape had been handed over to the then Director, Army Intelligence Unit,
and the CID is now in the process of obtaining it for further investigations, sources
claimed.
According to sources, Ranbanda was in-charge of administrative work at the Giritale
camp when Eknaligoda was brought there. Giving evidence, Ranbanda has stated that
Eknaligoda had been seen at the Girithale camp after his disappearance. According to
Ranbanda, the journalist Eknaligoda had been seen last with a Colonel attached to the
Army Intelligence Unit who is aware of Eknaligodas fate.
Meanwhile, the connection of the military in the murder of former MP N. Raviraja has
now surfaced as the weapon used for the parliamentarians killing had been given to
the killer by one of the Colonels arrested for Eknaligodas disappearance as well.
According to information received, it was this particular Colonel, now in CID custody,
who had given the weapon to Pillayan the former Chief Minister of the Eastern
Province, who in turn had given it to Ravirajs assassin.
Posted by Thavam