Killing of 27 civilians, injuring 40:
Indictments served on two suspected LTTE bomb experts
Kapila SOMARATNE, Panadura group corr
The Attorney General indicted two persons considered as bomb experts
of the LTTE, for causing the deaths of 27 passengers and grievous
injuries to 40 others by exploding a claymore bomb in a bus on the
Moratuwa - Katubedda road using a remote control device.
The accused are Thagervelu Nimalan alias Selvam and Nadesan
Kugernadan alias Nenrill. They were indicted under the Prevention of
Terrorism Act No 48 of 1979 and the Criminal Procedure Code.
The indictments with 113 charges were served on the accused when they
were produced before the Panadura Provincial High Court judge K
Sarojanee Weerawardana on Monday by a special STF squad as the accused
were under detention.
The 113 charges in the indictments were typed in Sinhala and the
accused appealed to court to read out the charges in the indictment in
Tamil. The judge summoned the Panadura district court interpreter and
got him to read out and explain the 113 charges to the accused.
State Counsel Dishna Warnakula represented the Attorney General when
indicting the accused present in court.
The first accused Thangervelu Nimalan alias Selvam was charged with
committing the deaths of Kamanee Senanayake. S A Madushika Sewwandi
Alwis. Sri Madushika Jayasinghe. Dharmadasa Gamage, Nuwan Manohara. C B
Hettiarchchi. K A Sitha Jayalatha Fernando, D Karunaratna, P S Jayalath,
S U Hettiarchchi. S A Indika, W G Thanuja Priyantha. W M Ghanagith,
Prasanna Priyalal Fernando, Ajantha Damayanthi. H Thilakaratne Fernando,
Dilini Maduka Wanniyarchchi, R M G Ratnayake, P Chaminda Kumara, M A
Hemasiri, M D Dayaratne. Sunil Abeysekera. H Indiwari. D V Bogahawatte.
K A Nilanthi. Pradeepa Tharangane Karunatillke and M Padmasiri Perera
and injuring 40 or more passengers.
The second accused Nadesan Kugernadan alias Nenrill was indicted with
conspiracy and aiding and abetting the first accused to commit the
murders of the 27 passengers and injury to 40 or more passengers who
travelled in the bus by exploding a claymore bomb inside it.
The first accused had confessed to an Assistant Superintendent of
Police that the accused had undergone training in an LTTE camp in the
Northern province for a long period, including a special course in
exploding bombs and shooting.
They came to Colombo later and got involved in terrorist activities
The confession is also a document in the prosecution case.
The prosecution has cited 74 witnesses including the government
analyst, Colombo South Hospital, JMO, eye witnesses and policemen to
give evidence for the prosecution
A remote control device and other items were marked as productions in
the case.
The Criminal Investigations Department and officials of the Anti
Terrorist (Activities Investigations) Unit investigated into the
claymore bomb blast at Katubedda, Moratuwa and arrested the two suspects
while they were living temporarily in a rented house in Kotahena,
Colombo during that time and engaged in terrorists activities in
Colombo.
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