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by ANTON NONIS

The Former Deputy Defence and Power and Energy Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte presented himself at the Police Headquarters, before the CID last morning in connection with the Udathalawinna massacre of ten youth during the General Election day. He was being interrogated on the Fourth Floor, according to police sources.

Earlier, the interrogation was fixed for January 29, but it did not materialise.

The interrogation panel included Deputy Inspector General C.L. Ratnayake, CID Director Lionel Gunatilleke and a few other detectives.

Earlier in the day, before Mr.Ratwatte arrived at the police headquarters, it was learnt, that the DIG was in conference with his officers, mainly to brief them on the lines of the inquiry.

In addition to the ten youth who were gunned down, four others who had sustained injuries underwent hospital treatment for several days. The Dolphin van in which the youth travelled was peppered with bullets and it is now under police custody along with the two Defender jeeps in which the alleged attackers had travelled.

Earlier, the investigations were being conducted by two police teams, one from Kandy under the direction of SP Kulasiri Udugampola (Crimes and Operations) and the other by the CID. But now, they were being exclusively handled by the CID.

A total of 30 army men were arrested in connection with the murders. According to the investigating team in Kandy, they were soldiers of a platoon in the Boyagane Camp in Kurunegala.

Among those held were three drivers. Also the suspects in the incident were two sons of Mr. Ratwatte, Lohan and Chanuka, still absconding.

However, an investigator from Kandy earlier said that they would soon arrest the two. He said their arrest was imminent. As there was suspicion that the two had planned to slip out of the country, all exit points had been closed. A detective said that they were confident that they had not left the country.

The Government Analyst in his report had stated that the two jeeps involved had been damaged, believed to have been caused during the indiscriminate firing at the youth.

The main reason why the sons of Mr. Ratwatte were suspected was that one of the injured youth had seen him at the scene of the crime. This youth was confident of identifying the suspects if seen again.

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