Colonel Nagulan killed while in military custody

Monday, 28 November 2011

Sinnathambi Kanapathipillai Shivamurhty alias Colonel Nagulan, who was taken into custody by the military intelligence units during the latter part of 2009 from Trincomalee, has been killed by the military in a secret camp in Minneriya where he was being held, reliable sources told Lanka News Web.

After the LTTE was militarily defeated on May 18, 2009, Colonel Nagulan became the leader of one of the two remaining groups of the organization. A resident of Jaffna, Colonel Nagulan was the Commanding Officer of the Charles Anthony brigade.

The official Defence Ministry website, defence.lk reported 8.6.2007 that Colonel Nagulan who was appointed as the leader of the Batticaloa area after the LTTE lost control of Batticaloa in 2007 was killed during a confrontation with the Sri Lanka Army. The new report stated that an identity card belonging to Colonel Nagulan had been found near the body of a slain LTTE cadre. The report could be read on http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070608.

The military intelligence units arrested Colonel Nagulan after tracking the signals of his satellite phone following information received by the other leader of the remaining LTTE group, Colonel Ram, who was arrested in 2009.

Colonel Nagulan’s arrest was kept quiet since any media publicity would have proven the Defence Ministry story of his death taking place in 2007 to be false.

The other reason to keep the arrest a secret was the close relationship Colonel Nagulan maintained with the Tamil Diaspora. Many attempts by the military intelligence units to gather information about the Tamil Diaspora from Colonel Nagulan had failed until his murder.

While Colonel Ram has become a puppet of the military, Colonel Nagulan had defied the military and had therefore been tortured for not revealing any information. The military intelligence units after realizing Colonel Nagulan was not going to serve any purpose had then killed him following orders received from a higher office.

Several other former LTTE leaders are held in the secret camp in Minneriya where Colonel Nagulan was held. Colonel Ram has been assigned the task of getting their support for the government. The intelligence unit of the Sri Lanka Army has therefore provided Colonel Ram with all the required facilities and had given him a mobile phone bearing number +94777140637 to keep in touch with the Tamil Diaspora.