Dharmeratnam Sivaram
The abduction and brutal assassination of journalist Dharmeratnam “Taraki” Sivaram, in 2005 caused shock waves among many of us even though he was under severe threat for what he had been writing before he was murdered. Now over 16 years after his assassination, it has been revealed that a former DIG and the ex-director of the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) had allegedly covered evidence to hinder the investigation into the murder.
Former DIG Sarath Lugoda is alleged to have concealed vital evidence of the murder on the instructions given to him from the higher up at that time, and he is to be questioned by the police shortly. He was alleged to have been released the main suspects under the instructions given by the higher up claiming it would endanger the national security.
Arumugam Sri Skandarajan also known as Peter, a former member of an armed group, along with another suspect was arrested as the main suspects in June 2005 near Colombo. They were released following an order from the top, saying their arrest could ‘endanger national security.’ It is not yet clear who had ordered Lugoda to release the two suspects.
It was reported that the SIM card of Sivaram’s mobile phone was found in Peter’s possession. The police also said they had found a vehicle that may have been used in his abduction. But the witnesses of the abduction later said the detained suspect was not one of the kidnappers and that the vehicle was not the one they had used.
Sivaram’s relatives and friends however claimed the instigators and perpetrators could be linked to Tamil paramilitary groups, as Sivaram supported Tamil nationalists and was outspoken in his criticism of abuses by the security forces and paramilitaries. But the case did not proceed further despite having taken for hearing several times for over ten years.
As court hearings continued for over 10 years some vital information to boost the investigation into slain journalist Sivaram had been surfaced. Further investigation is expected to commence with the questioning of the former DIG as to why he had hindered the investigation and who was behind it. The family and close relatives of the late Sivaram have moved to Canada since his assassination while, waiting for the government to bring justice to his brutal murder.
Sivaram’s family in Canada speaking to The Sunday Leader said if the allegations against the former DIG are true, it is a serious crime as a senior police officer had vehemently violated the laws of the country. The Sri Lanka police should investigate into it, they saidS.
“We would like to see a progressive probe into Sivaram’s murder, but, we hear news from time to time that someone had been arrested or some important information had been found. What we want is that the murder case of Sivaram should be investigated seriously like Lasantha Wickrematunge’s and bring the criminals to book as soon as possible as it has been a decade and more since his murder,” the brother-in-law of Sivaram, David Poopalapillai lamented.
“When the head of the family was gone, my sister was left with utter responsibilities of her three kids and their future. Two of them have completed their studies and the education of the youngest is soon to be completed. Even though she has not forgotten the brutal assassination of Sivaram, with her responsibilities, she was not much keen into looking into the investigations and the cases ongoing in Sri Lanka but she would be happy if our expectations are met. Ever since the new government took office and started fresh probe into serious crimes one after the other, we were waiting for a positive response in Sivaram’s murder probe as well,” Poopalapillai said.
“The government should take stern action against the criminals and also should probe it to unearth the truth behind the brutal assassination,” he added.
Meanwhile, responding to the The Sunday Leader, former DIG Sarath Lugoda said that he is not sure how such an allegation had been made against him as he was not a police officer who would take orders from top officials to cover evidence and hinder investigations.
“We arrested a few suspects and produced before the courts, but I cannot remember exactly what happened to that case since it has been a long time now. The police can only act according to the evidence available regarding the case and I was an independent police officer, these allegations are not true,” Lugoda added.
As a freelance journalist, Sivaram wrote his weekly ‘Taraki’ column at different times for several English newspapers. He also had written for a Tamil newspaper as ‘DP Sivaram’ and was the editor of the Tamilnet news website. Though controversial at times, his articles were widely read for informative and analytical political nature of those articles.
In 2005, he was abducted during night time from right in front of the Bambalapitiya Police station when he was returning from a small get together with his friends held at a restaurant in the area. When his friends, all were journalists, bade farewell to go home, he and one of his friends turned to the bus station where he was abducted.
An eyewitness describing the scene said that they were waiting for the bus when Sivaram walked ahead to answer a phone call while the eyewitness stayed back looking out in the opposite direction for a bus.
At one point, he saw a bus coming and he turned to Sivaram to say him that a bus was arriving. What he saw then was unnerving. A silver-grey vehicle was parked on the road near Sivaram. It was a Toyota. Two men were trying to force Sivaram into the vehicle while another was standing near the open door. The engine was running with the fourth man at the wheel. Suddenly, they gripped Sivaram from behind and began forcing him to get into the vehicle. Sivaram was grappling with his abductors. They were in civvies and the vehicle just sped off. The entire abduction occurred right opposite the Bambalapitiya police station. Subsequently, it was revealed through eyewitnesses that four men had been loitering outside the restaurant since 8.30 pm onwards. Two men were speaking Tamil while the other two spoke Sinhala. It was reported that according to an eyewitness, one of the men had called someone in Tamil on his mobile and wanted the vehicle to be sent. With the wisdom of hindsight, it was realised that the vehicle called for was the one in which Sivaram was abducted. Since it arrived very quickly, it was surmised that the vehicle must have been ready and waiting close by.
Upon learning of the abduction, Sivaram’s wife contacted her brother living in Mattakkuliya and went with him to the Bambalapitiya police station to lodge a complaint. Sivaram’s journalist colleague and friend Rajpal Abeynayake also informed a number of officials, including then Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Shantha Kottegoda, who promised to issue an alert to all military checkpoints.
It was about an hour past midnight when the Talangama police station received an anonymous telephone call informing the cops that a body was laying on the bank of the Diyawanna Oya. When the police went to the spot near Kimbula-ela junction, about 500 metres behind the Sri Jayawardenepura Parliament Complex, they found a dead body lying amidst the shrubs. It was identified later by friends and family to be that of Sivaram’s.
It was reported that Sivaram was gagged with a dotted serviette and his hands tied behind his back. He had been hit with a blunt instrument on the back of his head. This seems to have been done to prevent his struggling. The brave fighter that he was, Sivaram would have obviously resisted his abductors valiantly and therefore he was made unconscious.
Sivaram seems to have been shot at point blank range with a 9 mm Browning. One shot had cleanly entered his neck and chest. The second had penetrated his hand and entered the body. Contrary to the reports in the Tiger media, there were no signs of torture, the JMO who submitted the post-mortem report said. Two 9 mm empty bullets were found near his body. There was very little blood at the scene.
The body was then taken to the Colombo JMO office for a post-mortem. Dr. Jeanne Perera, the Head of Forensic Medicine at the Colombo Medical Faculty at that time, conducted it.The report continued to read that Sivaram had been given one blow on the back of his head and then shot twice in his shoulder blade and neck while he lay on the ground. The killing occurred where the body was found. The swelling on one of his eyes was not the result of a blow but due to the vibration when the bullets pierced the body.
She also placed the time of death at about 12.30 to 1. 00 am.It was the highly protected zone of the country where his body was found. Question remains as to how kidnappers could enter the parliament premises, the most secured zone – and commit such a crime.
Sivaram was from Batticaloa and native of eastern land. It was fitting indeed that his family resisted pressures by the Tigers to bury him elsewhere. It was Sivaram’s wish that he should be buried at Aalaiyadicholai. It was only in 2004 that he wrote so publicly and the body lies in there now. Sivaram’s death was not like some sepia photograph of an old atrocity, a singular event in a fading history. The Committee to Protect Journalists estimates that from 1992 to 2009, 18 journalists have been killed by all sides because of their (journalists’) writing or their comments during Sri Lanka’s long civil war.The majority of those killed, of course, were Tamil; but others, such as Lasantha Wickrematunge, the founder Editor of The Sunday Leader newspaper were not. And many other journalists, Tamil, Muslim, and Sinhalese, were forced into exile during the war.Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both noted that the end of the war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE has not meant an end to the violent harassment of journalists. The unsolved disappearance of the political analyst Prageeth Eknaligoda on January 24, 2010 during coverage of the recent elections is but one bitter example among others of its continuance.
“Sadly, then, the practice of using violence to suppress journalism has, now, a long history in Sri Lanka, and seems to have become unmoored recently even from the martial circumstances originally used to justify it. It has become a kind of tradition – or, worse, a kind of routine, like tea in the morning: very sour tea,” Prof. Mark P. Whitaker said in the memorial in London of Sivaram’s death.
