Search on for 5 others in the sand lorry, including driver
A search has been launched for five persons including the driver of the vehicle in which one person was killed after police opened fire, when they failed to stop, a senior officer said.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) M.A.A.R. Masinghe, in charge of the Kankesanthurai division, told the Sunday Times, five persons had escaped soon after the incident, and a team has been deployed to track them down. The lorry is presently in Police custody.
SSP Masinghe is carrying out a parallel investigation into the incident, along with the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Police headquarters.
In the incident, Yogarasa Dinesh (24), a migrant worker home on vacation, was killed. Preliminary investigations revealed, the victim had accompanied his friends in the vehicle that was transporting illicitly mined sand.
His parents told police he had informed them he was going to Vallipuram temple, in Vadamarachchi. On his return, he had sought a lift from a lorry transporting sand.
Initial investigations revealed that around 3.40 pm, close to the Sixth ward, Kudattanai in the Vadamarachchi area, police had opened fire at the lorry which allegedly failed to heed orders to stop. The Canter vehicle was reportedly, illicitly transporting sand.
SSP Masinghe said the two policemen were arrested, as it appeared they had acted beyond their orders in trying to stop the vehicle. “They should have had a bigger team, if they were conducting a raid on illegal sand-mining or its transportation, and could have alerted the next checkpoint to stop the vehicle,” he added.
Meanwhile the SIU is due to hand over its report on the incident shortly.
Preliminary investigations by police and Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) revealed that six per- sons were on board the truck, and one of them was Dinesh. He was hit above the hip when one of the two policemen in civvies, opened fire, and died minutes later.
Dinesh's family claimed he was not involved in the sand smuggling business- a lucrative, illegal business booming in the region due to the high demand for white sand used in construction.
The incident raised tension with angry villagers and relatives of the victim attacking Police posts, damaging public property and threatening to destabilise normalcy. Special Task Force (STF) and additional police units from other districts were deployed to prevent any unlawful activities.
The tense situation continued the following day, as agitated locals resorted to burning tires on the main roads, disrupting local transport and normal civilian activities.
The two policemen involved in the shooting, one from the nearby village of Nelliyadi, were produced before the Point Pedro Magistrate, and remanded till July 24.
The suspects preferred to have their statements recorded in private, in the presence of the Magistrate.
A senior Police officer said both have been interdicted and were taken to Anuradhapura prisons for security reasons.
The victim's funeral was held on Tuesday at Vedundai cemetery, amidst heavy security, with Police and STF deployed from Nelliyadi to deter any violence.
Some individuals wearing masks went to the residence of one of the detained suspects in Nelliyadi and caused severe damage to the house. However, no one was injured in the attack.
In another instance, angry protesters burning tires on the road to disrupt transport, took the smart-phone of an on-the-scene web journalist, and threw it into the fire.
Coordinator of the Jaffna branch of the HRCSL, T. Kanagaraj told the Sunday Times that his office had submitted a comprehensive report on the incident to its head office in Colombo.
He said the Commission will continue to monitor the proceedings, as it caused severe tension in the region. “We are waiting till the next hearing for the police to file their report in courts,”
(SR)