SARATH FONSEKA SAYS THE KILLERS OF THE HINDU PRIEST FROM THOPPIGALA COULD EXPECT SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES

By Walter Jayawardhana

Sri lanka Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka warned that the terrorists of the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who shot and killed the innocent Head Priest of the Pulliar Hindu Temple at Sandiveli will have to face severe consequences very soon.

According to the Police investigations the LTTE gunmen forcibly dragged head Priest Chelliah Kurukkal Paremeshvaram out of his residence and killed him by shooting. The Police said the terrorists came from the Thoppigala terrorist camps deep inside the Ampara jungles. Few moments after he was dragged out of the house ,his wife and three children heard gunshots.

Later his body was left in a nearby place, the police said. It was left in a ditch behind the government school at Sandiveli near Batticaloa.

His wife said he garlanded and blessed Mahinda Rajapaksa, when he visited Vakarai after the LTTE was driven out of the place after the terrorist group dominated the place after ten years. Before that he helped the the Vakarai refugees to be settled down after they escaped from the war ravaged area. The LTTE has been threatening the priest ever since then.

LT. General Sarath Fonseka said that the assassins are known to have come from the Tamil Tiger camps in the dense jungles in the Thoppigala area and very soon they will have to face the consequences of the ruthless murder of a harmless religious personality.

Fonseka said , in this instance, the LTTE has failed even to consider that the priest was a Hindu religious personality respected by the majority Tamil people of Sri Lanka. It only exhibited the barbaric nature of the LTTE.

He said it was the duty of the security forces to protect all citizens alike of the country irrespective whether they belonged to any religion or race. So, the killing of the priest could have very serious implications for the terrorists, he said.