Amputee among kidnapped by White Van squad
Relatives have lodged complaints with Police and Deputy Minister P. Radhakrishnan, of two kidnappings by the ‘white van squad’ on Friday, August 15th.
They are 34 and 49 years old and fathers of young children; one of them an amputee after a 1995 auto accident. They hail from Nelliyadi and Pungkuduthivu from North of Sri Lanka but are longtime residents of Colombo and Watala, a report in Tamil Daily Thinakkural said today.
Rohini Balakumar of 70/2 New Chetty Street has complained her husband Selvarajah Balakumar (34), a native of Nelliyadi has gone missing after he was kidnapped by two Sri Lanka navy soldiers on a motorcycle and an armed Tamil group dressed in civil clothes riding the white van without a license plate.
She said the two navy soldiers came to their house around 9:30 in the morning on Friday, assaulted and dragged her husband before handing him over to the group in the white van.
At this same address, Markandu Vadivananthan was kidnapped on August 22nd, 2006 and missing since then, even though a ransom of 35 lakhs was paid, Thinakkural added.
49-year-old disabled person, Christhotharan Francis was abducted on August 15th, the same day as Selvarajah Balakumar from his residence located along Jayanthi Mawatte in Wattala-Hunupity junction during the night. A complaint in this regard was made to the Kiribathgoda police station by his wife yesterday.
Christhotharan Francis, a native of Pungkudithivu worked in Saudi Arabia and became disabled after an accident in 1995.
His wife Veronica Christhotharan said a youth arrested in Vavuniya was also brought along and premises around the house and lavatory were dug during a search by around 10 persons. They came to the house in a white van, an auto and a blue truck, and gruesomely assaulted Veronica Christhotharan’s disabled husband, Thinakkural report says.
Deputy Minister P. Radhakrishnan has said Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake was informed of the kidnappings.
The Minister added, of the 210 persons kidnapped this year, 1 person has been shot dead, 22 persons being held in Police stations and Boosa and no information is yet available on the other 121 persons.
