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Mangala soft pedals JHU number plate
In an apparent bid to woo the JHU the government is attempting to limit damage to the monks' image by playing down alleged irregular acts. Prior to the start of the JHU organized pada yatra the Matara police had detected two vehicles parked near the Matara Bo tree bearing identical number plates.

One was a double cab bearing the number 252 - 6648 belonging to a businessman and the other a light blue van whose driver when questioned by the police said the van belonged to Ven. Aturaliye Ratana Thera.

Police investigations revealed that the original number of this van is 252 - 6649 and had been leased from a leading leasing company but its owner has defaulted on paying the lease instalments.

Thus to prevent the vehicle being detected the number had been altered to read as 252 - 6648. When the state media attempted to run a story relating to this it had reportedly been prevented by the intervention of the media minister.

The Sunday Times learns that ITN chairman Newton Gunaratne had been criticized by the media minister for attempting to run the story. This move comes in the backdrop of a series of meetings at various levels by top government representatives and especially after the pledge given by media minister Mangala Samaraweera to refrain from attacking the JHU on state media with a view to wooing JHU support for the government.

Meanwhile, Ven. Athureliye Ratana Thera told The Sunday Times that he was not aware of any fraud committed by the earlier owner of the vehicle adding that he bought the vehicle while it was on a lease and said he was still paying the lease instalments.

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