{"id":29800,"date":"2014-05-14T19:46:38","date_gmt":"2014-05-14T23:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=29800"},"modified":"2014-05-14T21:18:19","modified_gmt":"2014-05-15T01:18:19","slug":"pro-ltte-vanni-techdirector-reported-murdered-by-sl-army-emerges-as-refugee-in-tamil-nadu-with-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=29800","title":{"rendered":"Pro-LTTE “Vanni Tech” Director Reported Murdered by SL Army Emerges as “Refugee” in Tamil Nadu with Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20140514-201525.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n


\n33 Year old Engineer Kathiravelu Thayapararajah who served as Director of the Vanni Tech Institute run by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) was allegedly tortured and murdered by the Sri Lankan Army in September 2009.<\/p>\n

On May 6th the reportedly murdered man emerged as a refugee from Sri Lanka in Tamil Nadu with wife Uthayakala and three children and sought asylum.The eldest was an orphaned child of Udhayakala\u2019s sister who is now adopted by the couple.<\/p>\n

Even as photos of the family appeared in the media enraged persons in Sri Lanka began complaining to Police and courts that the couple responsible for swindling large amounts of money were now in Tamil Nadu.Apparently there were many cases against the couple and warrants had been issued against the absconding husband and wife.<\/p>\n

The Chavakachcheri Magistrate has ordered that the services of INTERPOL should be utilised to bring the couple back to face criminal charges. The Sri Lankan Justice ministry and Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka have been duly notified.<\/p>\n

The affair has attracted much attention as a bizarre incident in which a person who was allegedly tortured and murdered by the Sri Lankan armed forces in 2009 is now very much alive and is seeking refuge in India.Moreover he and his wife are accused of a string of frauds in Sri Lanka.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A series of five related excerpts from reports and newspapers are reproduced here chronologically to shed some light on the unusually interesting affair.<\/em><\/p>\n

Excerpt – 1<\/strong>
\nTamil technologist feared extra-judicially executed in Colombo
\n[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 September 2009, 15:33 GMT]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kathiravel Thayapararaja, a 28-year old Tamil Electrical Engineer, is feared to have been extra-judically executed by Sri Lanka intelligent services, after being forcefully abducted sometime second week of September, informed sources in Colombo said. Thayapararaja’s wife, Uthayakala, and the two children of her diseased sister who were under Uthayakala’s care, have now been taken under the protection and care of a Church Organization in Colombo, after being left helpless with the disappearance of her husband, unconfirmed reports said. <\/p>\n

A human rights organization has informed Thayapararaja’s disappearance to the US assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, Ambassador Robert Blake, who has responded that he will check the information [thorugh the US embassy in Sri Lanka].<\/p>\n

Thayapararaja graduated from Peradeniya University in 2000, and joined Vanni Institute of Technology (VanniTech), in Kilinochchi as the Director two years after the Institute was formed in 2003. The Institute provided Information Technology education to NorthEast youths, and was developing as a sought after institution of study in the North.<\/p>\n

VanniTech was funded by Tamil expatriate technologists from Silicon Valley, and was registered as a US federal tax exempt charitable organization in the USA and an approved NGO in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Reproduced from Tamil Net<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

****************<\/em><\/p>\n

Excerpt -2.<\/strong><\/p>\n

University Teachers for Human Rights -Special Report No: 34
\nDate of release: 13th December 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

Murder of Kathiravelu Thayapararajah, Director Vanni Tech , 15th September 2009
\nThe Tamils have been consigned to arbitrary rule collectively as terrorist suspects. No one knows when he or she is safe and what novel pretext the State\u2019s security apparatus would find to kill or abduct them. There is no appeal, no channel to seek explanation from those who wield authority under state patronage. This element of uncertainty totally breaks down individuals, families and communities. We have given many cases in the past. Here we deal with one which raises several more issues. Presently, anyone who held a position of respect and leadership could be eliminated, without any acknowledgment or any legal process.<\/p>\n

The other issue is the absence of any process or civilised rules concerning the treatment of persons who with much valued dedication served educational or civilian functions within the LTTE-controlled region. The laws and orders to the security services and administrators should be clear on this point. Persons subject to investigation or arrest should only be those suspected with reason of serious crimes or those who connived in such. Unfortunately law enforcement functions have been vested with security forces, which use the fight against terrorism as a badge to murder, terrorise and extort. This has complicated the problem to a point of hopelessness.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Parliament acting in the wake of the state-orchestrated July 1983 violence to criminalise support for a separate Tamil state, which is a political question to be dealt with in that sphere, has served to confuse Sinhalese minds on the differences between crime, terrorism, dissent and political aspirations. This furthered the growth of terrorist violence on all sides in the hope of political gain.<\/p>\n

The following information about Thayapararajah\u2019s public role in the Vanni Tech is gathered from his friends and that is all we are concerned about. Thayapararajah, passed out a top student in Computer Engineering from Peradeniya University in 2005. Having three sisters, his family would have liked him to go abroad for his higher studies, but he joined Vanni Tech as its director. The Tech began with courses in electronics and several branches of computer engineering, offering one year of intensive training, leading to diplomas. Its first two batches of students came mainly from Jaffna and after the A9 road was closed in 2006, students were drawn exclusively from the Vanni. Its graduates have found work with UN and international agencies and Vanni Tech signed up contracts with Kilinochchi Hospital and government departments to maintain their information systems.<\/p>\n

Vanni Tech itself may be seen as a continuation of the desire among Tamil professionals and educators to build up institutions in the North-East and upgrade their universities to a very high standard and harness the resources of their areas. This desire took root especially after the communal violence of 1977. The LTTE\u2019s monopoly of the political sphere undermined this endeavour. With the start of the peace process in 2002, there was a new drive for expatriates to contribute to the development of the North-East. Understandably those who participated either supported the LTTE or accepted LTTE control as a fait accompli one had to work within. Vanni Tech was one result. Once more the LTTE\u2019s politics undermined the endeavour.<\/p>\n

The Tech was founded as an independent institution to be funded for four years at a lessening rate, after which it was to be self supporting, so that the donors could move on to another project. During 2008 the LTTE\u2019s computer unit took a direct hand in the board of Vanni Tech. This was to be a time of transition where the Tech was to become self supporting. But owing to the situation, the donors agreed to continue the funding for another year to pay staff salaries. The LTTE supplied other needs like diesel for generators. None of this diminishes the civilian character of Vanni Tech and the civilian status of its employees.<\/p>\n

A Vanni resident close to Thayapararajah described him as fully dedicated to building up Vanni Tech and a compassionate man. He refused to accept a salary except for fringe benefits such as free board and lodging at the guest house. When the resident reminded him that he had sisters in need of his salary, Thayapararajah said characteristically that he would see about it later. Uthayakala, had been in an LTTE-run school and then in its women\u2019s wing. During the late 1990s she left the LTTE and married. She lost her husband after having two children. She later joined Vanni Tech as a student. She once fainted at the college and as the director, Thayapararajah spoke to her, felt sorry for her and became attached to her. Despite reservations from others, he insisted on becoming her husband.<\/p>\n

Apparently, the LTTE did not look upon this marriage with favour. After the LTTE computer unit became the main decision maker on the board during 2008, Thayapararajah had to sit with some high ranking LTTE persons including Charles Anthony. Some time, the diffe<\/p>\n

He too moved east following the general IDP movement eastwards that began in 2008. <\/p>\n

http:\/\/defencewire.blogspot.com of 28th March 2009 carried the following item reporting Thayapararajah\u2019s escape from LTTE control:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMeanwhile the LTTE’s cream has started abandoning the organization. The Director of the LTTE’s Vanni Institute of Technology (VIT) surrendered to the Army a few days ago. A former Assistant Lecturer at the University of Peradeniya, the VIT Director graduated from the same school as a Computer Engineer and was later recruited by the LTTE while visiting his wife in the Vanni.\u201d This was the time the Army and LTTE were fighting for the control of Puthukkudiyiruppu, but nearly all the IDPs were by this time in Puthumattalan.<\/p>\n

What the item indicates is that the intelligence services questioned him and released him at some point or he paid and released himself from illegal detention at Manik Farm. He moved to Colombo with Uthayakala and children after staying with his family in Vavuniya, hoping to go abroad. The following is slightly modified from a note by one of his former teachers:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Colombo, Uthayakala being from Kilinochchi had no ID and was not registered. So she was picked by the CID around June 2009. Thayapararajah was not because he had his ID. She was taken to the Fourth Floor where she was beaten up and questioned and then released. While she was being questioned, the CID with Special Forces picked up Thayapararajah who was then taken to Avissavela. So after her own arrest, she has not seen her husband.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lawyer in Colombo represented Thayapararajah who was moved from Colombo to a camp in Avissavela. Uthayakala\u2019s 75 or 76 year old grandmother (whose husband had been the Hatton UC Chairman at one time) visited him there a couple of times. She found that he had been beaten up.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point some place Thayapararajah received gunshot injuries in circumstances unknown to the family and was taken to the Kalubovila Hospital Colombo on 13th September. The family was informed the same day that they ought to come as he was in a serious condition. As Uthayakala was scared she sent her grandmother. He died on 15th September. His wife, her old grandmother and one of the children identified the body. As no one was prepared to arrange a funeral, the body was cremated and the ashes given to Udayakala. The lawyer who represented Thayapararajah says there are 2 engineers and a doctor still at the Avissavela camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thayapararajah had an injury in the chest area. Some felt that Thayapararajah was shot by an assassin working under the security forces, privy to the information that Thayapararajah was to be escorted by the Police to a court in Colombo. Another possibility is misfire from a weapon carried by the escort or he was shot when he tried to escape. The escort had no intention of killing him is suggested by the fact that they warded the injured man in hospital and tried to save him \u2013 he was alive for two days.
\nThe fact is that Thayapararajah and Uthayakala were both tortured badly. Uthayakala could hardly walk when she was released. Thayapararajah was also in a poor state as witnessed by Uthayakala\u2019s grandmother. <\/p>\n

The Government has been silent on this death. There has been no real inquiry. It probably realised that blaming it on the LTTE would not sell when its main leaders were no more. There was silence elsewhere too. TamilNet itself reported the murder as late as 24th September, after which one Tamil paper reported it. <\/p>\n

Reproduced From UTHR Special Report No 34<\/strong><\/p>\n

*********************<\/em><\/p>\n

Excerpt -3<\/p>\n

Lanka Not a Peaceful Home for Tamils, Say Refugees<\/p>\n

By S Raja – RAMESWARAM
\nPublished: 06th May 2014 07:28 AM<\/strong><\/p>\n

For 33-year-old Thayapararaja, an engineer from Kilinochchi, hopes of a peaceful life and better education for his children have dashed as his family had constantly been on the run from the Lankan Army and police.<\/p>\n

Thayapararaja was among the 10 Sri Lankan refugees, including five children, who reached Arichalmunai near Dhanuskodi, early on Monday. They were later booked under the Foreigners Act for not possessing valid documents to enter India. Another refugee, Dhavendran (34), a driver from Mullaitivu district, said that the Lankan army would storm houses of Tamils any time and take them to camps. The fate of many such innocents was not known, he said.<\/p>\n

Dhavendran was living with his wife Lakshani and three kids. He said that the army had been taking away Tamils from their houses on suspicion, since 2010. Dhavendran\u2019s brother-in-law Karthipan had been detained in Poosa jail. He was then shifted to a rehabilitation camp six months ago without any reason.
\nAt the end of the civil war in 2009, contrary to the popular belief that peace had returned to Lanka and Tamils were leading a normal life, several Lankan Tamil youngsters had been thrown into camps and jails, he said.<\/p>\n

Thayapararaja said that he was working as an assistant lecturer in Peradeniya University from 2001-2005. The Lankan army had detained him twice and kept him in a navy camp and a prison for two years. Thereafter he had tried to move to Australia along with his family. However, the police tried to arrest him. He then kept on moving to various places including Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavunya and Jaffna with his family. Finally Thayapararaja took a decision to seek shelter in India and gave Rs 50,000 to a boat crew so that his family could board from Mannar, he said.<\/p>\n

He had been struggling for two hours in knee-deep water before reaching the Mandapam refugee camp. However, he was not aware that any person who reached the mainland from Sri Lanka would be booked under the Foreigners Act. <\/p>\n

Similarly, Sudhakaran (35) of Muraipu village near Mullaitivu, a van driver, who served as a food supplier in the LTTE from 1996 to 2005 and tried to escape, was detained by LTTE cadre and punished for three months. Sudhakaran said that the Lankan army would not allow Tamils to live peacefully and there was no security for them in that country. Though India had extended assistance for the rehabilitation of Lankan Tamils, the funds have not been fully utilised. The Lankan Navy detained him in 2008 and released him after three years, after which he was arrested by the police and incarcerated for six months, he said.<\/p>\n

However, even after his release, he was still chased by the police. He then gave `1.2 lakh to the crew and reached Arichalmunai later. Seven others, who tried to escape from Sri Lanka in a boat were detained by the SL Navy and taken back to the country, he said.<\/p>\n

Intelligence Wing personnel conducted an inquiry with them at the Dhanuskodi police station and booked them under the Foreigners Act, Superintendent of Police Mylvahanan told \u2018Express\u2019.<\/p>\n

The arrested refugees from the island nation would be produced before a court here, the SP added.<\/p>\n

Reproduced from New Indian Express<\/strong><\/p>\n

***********************<\/em><\/p>\n

Excerpt -4<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n\u2018Tortured and killed\u2019 LTTE’r surfaces in India<\/p>\n

WEDNESDAY, 14 MAY 2014 07:08<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the former prominent LTTE cadres, said to have been tortured and killed by the Sri Lankan security forces in 2009 as claimed by many local and international NGOs, was among the arrested person by the Tamil Nadu police in Dhanushkodi in India, when they entered India without valid documents, defence sources revealed.<\/p>\n

Indian media reported that ten Sri Lankan Tamils, including five children, illegally landed at Arichamunai, off Dhanushkodi, Tamil Nadu, India in the early hours on May 5. One of the suspects identified by the Indian police as K. Thayapararaja, 33 a computer engineer in Jaffna had come with wife Uthayakala, son Diyaroan 12, daughters Dilany 6, Dilshiya 4.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, several prominent NGOs including University Teachers of Human Rights (UTHR \u2013 J), the Australian Government Refugee Review Tribunal and several pro-LTTE groups had earlier stated that the Sri Lanka Security forces tortured and killed Thayapararaja.<\/p>\n

The report titled War without Witnesses had claimed that Tamil Engineer working for a US Charity ((ITTPO) was extra judicially executed near Colombo. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights report 2010 (page 32) quotes from the University Teachers of Human Rights Report and published a Report on the same lines.<\/p>\n

Thayapararaja had told media in Tamil Nadu that he had worked as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Peradeniya in Kandy after graduation from the Peradeniya University in 2005 as an Engineer. The rest of his story covered how he lost contact with his parents and 3 sisters, that his family was in Kilinochchi and how he spent a month at a Vavuniya camp and decided to flee to Tamil Nadu.<\/p>\n

Defence sources also alleged that Thayapararaja and his wife Uthayakala had also duped numerous persons from Mullativu, Mannar and Colombo, collecting millions of rupees promising safe passage and employment in London.<\/p>\n

However she had not provided employment or returned their money. Many such victims from Wanni have handed a letter to the Indian Consulate in Jaffna requesting the Indian consulate to intervene in this case and provided them justice. It is also unfolding that both husband and wife had close links with some NGOs operating from London with links to LTTE. They had allegedly used this is a connection to promise lucrative jobs and operated the racket with pro-LTTE elements pretending to help Tamils.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were several complaints about this husband and wife to the Criminal Investigations Department and several police stations and we would work with the Indian police to bring down both the suspects soon, as CID is currently conducting separate inquiries against these suspects,\u201d a senior police official said.<\/p>\n

Reproduced from Daily Mirror<\/strong><\/p>\n

*********************************<\/em><\/p>\n

Excerpt -5.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Man whose \u2018disappearance\u2019 evoked Blake\u2019s interest found with suspect
\nIndian help sought to recover money from woman human smuggler<\/p>\n

May 14, 2014, 10:42 pm <\/p>\n

by <\/p>\n

Shamindra Ferdinando<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several Tamils have sought Indian intervention to help recover their money from a female human smuggler Thayapararajah Uthayakala, now in the custody of Tamil Nadu authorities for illegal entry during the first week of May, 2014.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the Indian Consulate in Jaffna, a group of Tamils has called for tangible action to enable the group to recover money collected by Uthayakala formerly married to an LTTE cadre, promising employment in the UK. The victims alleged that Uthayakala had duped them by taking them to VFS Global UK Visa Application Centre in Colombo, where they handed over visa applications.<\/p>\n

Having assured that they would be found employment in the UK, Uthayakala had collected millions of rupees from unsuspecting people over a three-month period before demanding additional US $ 2,000 each to prove authorities at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) that they were genuine travelers.<\/p>\n

A senior Sri Lankan official familiar with the ongoing investigation told The Island that Uthayakala had no intention of at least accompanying them to BIA. Instead, after having taken them to Amala Guest House in Negombo, Uthayakala had collected US $ 2000 each from would be travellers to the UK and left directing the victims to follow her to the BIA. They had no option but to leave the BIA disappointed as Uthayakala couldn\u2019t be found there. Although they knew they had been duped nothing could be done as the whereabouts of Uthayakala wasn\u2019t known.<\/p>\n

The official said that Uthayakala would have easily disappeared to some Western country if she was not arrested by Tamil Nadu authorities for entering the country illegally. Still she could have escaped if she didn\u2019t attract the attention of the media by alleging large scale atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan military. Had she simply claimed economic difficulties, the Indian media wouldn\u2019t have bothered with her or others in her group. She was among ten Tamils, including five children who landed at Arichamunai off Dhanuskodi in the early hours of May 5.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the government would conduct an investigation into human smuggling racket, the official said that there was a need for a comprehensive investigation. He said: “Thanks to the Indian media, we are able to identify Uthayakala\u2019s second husband, Kathiravel Thayapararajah (33) whose disappearance in September 2009 prompted a section of the media as well as some international NGOs to accuse Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) of executing him. No less a person than the then US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs and one-time US Ambassador in Colombo, Robert O. Blake inquired about the missing person.”<\/p>\n

The University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), the Australian Government Refugee Review Tribunal, Tamilnet and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights among others blamed the Sri Lankan intelligence for the disappearance.<\/p>\n

Well informed sources told The Island that Thayapararajah had been closely connected to the LTTE, though he wasn\u2019t involved in actual fighting on the ground. Having graduated from the Peradeniya University, Thayapararajah had joined a project run by Vanni Tech in Kilinochchi with the financial backing of the US based Tamil Diaspora. The project launched in 2003 during the Ceasefire Agreement brokered by Norway was one of those operations undertaken by the Diaspora, though Thayapararajah joined the organisation in 2005.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, another person living in Colombo has written to the Indian High Commission requesting Uthayakala\u2019s extradition to Colombo to face an inquiry over an alleged attempt to extort money from him.
\n
\nReproduced from The Island<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

33 Year old Engineer Kathiravelu Thayapararajah who served as Director of the Vanni Tech Institute run by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) was allegedly tortured and murdered by the Sri Lankan Army in September 2009. On May 6th the reportedly murdered man emerged as a refugee from Sri Lanka in Tamil Nadu with wife …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Pro-LTTE “Vanni Tech” Director Reported Murdered by SL Army Emerges as “Refugee” in Tamil Nadu with Family’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29800"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29800"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29807,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29800\/revisions\/29807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}