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Pillayan and others acquitted after CA decided confessions obtained under duress
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A free man: Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias 'Pillayan'
A Court of Appeal order on the confessions made by two accused in the Joseph Pararajasingham assassination case led to the Batticaloa High Court’s acquittal of five accused, including former Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias ‘Pillayan’ on Wednesday.
The CA had earlier decided that the confessions made by the first and second accused in the case were not valid. This was after hearing a petition filed by the two accused alleging that their confessions were obtained under duress by the police.
With the confessions no longer deemed admissible, Deputy Solicitor General Madhawa Tennakoon informed the Batticaloa High Court this week that the Attorney General would no longer proceed with the case against the accused. Accordingly, Batticaloa High Court Judge D.S. Soosaithasan acquitted the accused on Wednesday.
Seven accused were initially indicted in the case including an alleged Indian intelligence agent known as Menon.
At the start of the trial, however, the AG requested the court to remove the name of the seventh accused (Menon) as there were no further details available regarding him other than his name being briefly mentioned in one of the two confessions.
Those indicted over the assassination were Rengasami Kanganayagam alias Kajan Maama, Edward Silva Krishna Nandaraja alias Pradeep Master, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, Meera Lebbe Kaleel alias Suresh, alias Manjula, alias Salaam, Ariyanayagam Dharmanayagam alias Olapatti Kumar and Gunasinghe Arachchige Tharindu Madusanka alias Vinoth.
They were charged with conspiracy and aiding and abetting the murder of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Joseph Pararajasingham on Christmas Day in 2005.
Only four accused were brought to trial, with Dharmanayagam and Madusanka being tried in absentia. The latter’s name was also removed from the indictment during the course of the trial after it was established that he was now dead.
The AG’s Department had relied heavily on the confessions made by “Kajan Maama” and “Pradeep Master” for its case.
According to the confession made by “Pradeep Master” and accepted by the Batticaloa High Court as a voluntary confession under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the gunman who shot Mr Pararajasingham was Palanithambi Shashidaran alias “Shanthan.” Investigators had established during the course of the probe that he too was dead.
In his confession, Pradeep Master had claimed that it was “Pillayan” who had instructed him by phone to proceed to Batticaloa from Vakarai along with the others, told him to pick up the T56 weapon used for the assassination from a camp and ordered him to go with Shanthan to St. Mary’s Church where the TNA MP was attending Christmas Mass.
The two accused, however, later told the Batticaloa High Court that their confessions had been coerced, leading the court to open a “Voir Dire” inquiry to ascertain the truth or admissibility of the evidence. The Batticaloa High Court ruled at the conclusion of the inquiry that the confessions were voluntarily given and were thus valid.
Thereafter, the two accused filed a case in the CA against the decision of the Batticaloa High Court. The CA decided in favour of the accused.
The AG, meanwhile, chose not to appeal to the Supreme Court against the CA decision, informing the Batticaloa High Court that he would no longer proceed with the case against the accused, leading to their acquittal.