Police hunt for JVP’s Amerasinghe supporters

As the rift between the two factions in the JVP widened, police have launched a manhunt for as many as 20 supporters of JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe for their alleged involvement in the raid on the house of a JVP Member of Parliament loyal to former Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa.

Two police teams have been deployed in Chilaw to arrest some 20 JVP supporters who raided MP Samansiri Herath’s residence on the eve of the New Year and took away his vehicle, his mobile phone and land phones, a senior officer said. The vehicle was later found by the police and a former JVP provincial council candidate has been arrested and remanded for alleged involvement in the raid on the Weerawansa supporter’s house.

Police are also on the lookout for another five JVP supporters who allegedly attacked Kalutara district Patriotic National Movement (PNM) organizer Hemantha Perera while he was riding a motorcycle in the Bandaragama area, the officer said. Five persons who came on motorcycles had allegedly assaulted him with clubs and left him on the roadside. Mr. Perera has claimed that he could identify the attackers as JVP members and has named one of them.

Meanwhile, JVP’s Trincomalee District Parliamentarian Jayantha Wijesekara will be produced again in courts tomorrow on charges of hijacking two vehicles from the Parliament car park and assaulting a police officer. Last week, lawyers for the JVP leadership requested that Mr. Wijesekera be released on bail because he has to lead the party’s campaign for the Eastern Provincial Council elections in the Trincomalee District.

But the court refused bail because of police objections and the JVP leadership had accused police of playing politics. In the latest incident of the developing crisis between the two factions in the party, a JVP candidate and two others were assaulted in Ampara by ten persons who came on motorcycles.

They were putting up posters about a meeting to be addressed by JVP leader Amerasinghe today in Ampara, police said. Meanwhile, Mr. Weerawansa is expected to meet the Mahanayaka theras of the Asgiriya and Malwatta Chapters in Kandy today and explain the events that led to the crisis in the party.