Nadarajah Raviraj killing:

CID takes over investigation

by Jayampathy Jayasinghe

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has taken over the investigation into the assassination of MP Nadarajah Raviraj and Police Constable Lakshman Lokuwella on a directive by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Scotland Yard detectives are to assist the CID to trace the assassins of the murder.

It was around 8.30 a.m. last Friday when several persons had heard the burst of gunfire that shattered the stillness of Matha Road, Elvitigala, where the Manning Flats are located. MP Raviraj had left his Manning Town flats that morning around 8.30 with his security officer Police Constable Lakshman Lokuwella seated alongside in the vehicle.

The Prado vehicle had proceeded along Matha Road and was about to turn in to Elvitigala Mawatha towards Narahenpita when a gunman emptied his T-56 magazine with a burst of fire at the vehicle.

Several bullets that penetrated the vehicle armour and the glass window hit both occupants on their heads critically injuring them. The gunman after accomplishing his task is said to have escaped on a pillion of a motor-cycle ridden by someone else. The assassins had travelled in the direction of Narahenpita, police said.

Within a few minutes people who gathered near the vehicle had pulled out MP Raviraj and his security officer Police Constable Lakshman from the vehicle and despatched them to the National Hospital Colombo in a private vehicle. Police Constable Lakshman Lokuwella was found dead on admission but MP Raviraj succumbed to his injuries later at the Intensive Care Unit.

Police suspect that the assassin may have arrived at Matha Road, in a trishaw with a travelling bag that contained the T-56 firearm. The assassin had fired without removing the firearm from the travelling bag to prevent anybody seeing it.

A police team from the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) led by Director, SSP, Sarath Lugoda rushed to the scene of the murder and recovered the bag containing the T-56 weapon and spent bullets which was left on the pavement. However, it is still not clear whether the assassin had earlier taken position at Matha Road, Elvitigala junction or whether MP Raviraj's vehicle was followed by the assassins in a Trishaw. However, police have come to know the number of the getaway motor-cycle used by the assassins.

DIG Colombo Pujitha Jayasundera who visited the scene immediately told the "Sunday Observer" that on a directive issued by President Rajapaksa, IGP Victor Perera had instructed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to take over the investigation.

DIG Jayasundera said a white van travelling from Borella towards Narahenpita was hit by stray bullets as the van approached Matha Road, Elvitigala. The driver fearing for his life had immediately stopped the vehicle and had crouched under the dash board. Fortunately he was not hurt, he said.

Nadarajah Raviraj was born on June 25 1962, and was educated in Jaffna. He was enrolled as an Attorney-at-Law of The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in November 1987. He also worked as a human rights lawyer in Colombo before embarking on a political career. He was first appointed as a Deputy Mayor of the Jaffna Municipal Council and was appointed as the Mayor of Jaffna in 2001. He joined TULF in 1987 and became a Central Committee member in 1990.

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