Sri Lanka: Two missing activists held at the Police Welfare building

Lanka News Web
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Two activists of the Movement for People’s Struggle, Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganandan are being held at the 6th floor of the Police Welfare building, it is reliably learnt.

The new state of the art building is located opposite the Manning Market in Pettah and was built when retired DIG Combalavithana was heading the Police Welfare Division. Although the building was constructed utilizing millions of rupees to be used for police welfare work, it is now being used as a torture chamber for persons who are abducted on the Defence Secretary’s directives.

The ground floor and the 6th floor of the building are operated under the supervision of DIG in-charge of Colombo, Anura Senanayake. Only a few police personnel whose names have been given to the security can enter this division and special security has been deployed to the building.

The torture chamber is being managed by one “Hangman Perera” who is a police inspector loyal to Senanayake. Perera was assigned the post of sub inspector in the sub police service and within two years was absorbed to the permanent cadre and promoted as an inspector of police on a directive by the Defence Secretary.

This police officer has no clue about police administration work and serves as an active member of the Defence Secretary’s special unit. He is linked to many of the abductions that have been carried in the past few months.

We first published about this inspector of police in January 2011 as the officer who had spearheaded the operation to abduct and torture journalist Poddala Jayantha.

Lalith and Kugan, who were abducted last December 9th, are being held at the Police Welfare building under this IP’s supervision. Lalith and Kugan are being continuously questioned while being held in one room on the 6th floor. The government has so far remained silent about the two persons even when the Habeas Corpus filed on them before the Court of Appeal is taken up because the torture marks in their bodies are yet very visible.

We reiterate that reports that they have been murdered are completely false and they are being held on the 6th floor of the Police Welfare building.

Also, Frontline Socialist Party members Premakumar Gunaratnam and Dimuthu Attygalle were also questioned in a secret room near the car park of this building.

Lalith and Kugan had been asked to identify them. They have been interrogated at length since the statements made by Lalith and Kugan and Kumar and Dimuthu were contradictory.

Kumar had also been taken to the torture chamber at the Welisara Navy Camp and interrogated at length. He was brought the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) afterwards.

© LNW

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