Abductions unlimited

If war or rumours of war are not frightening enough then the spate of abductions in the recent past seem to have instilled a sense of fear and uncertainty mostly among Tamil businessmen living in Colombo and its suburbs.

An owner of a lodge at Vivekananda Road in Kotahena disappeared on July 7 and a few days later he is said to have contacted his mother saying the abductors were demanding a ransom of Rs. four million for his release.

The lodge owner had said he was being held at a secret location in Polonnaruwa and his mother was instructed to come to a particular spot in Polonnaruwa and hand over the ransom money to a person dressed in a red shirt and after the money was handed over she was told to get back home and that her son would be freed soon.

It has been more than eight weeks since the money was paid, but sadly though the mother is still anxiously waiting for her son to return home or at least to hear from him.

This was one of the 41 complaints made to the police so far about cases of disappearances, mainly of Tamil businessmen within Colombo.

Police Deputy Inspector General N.K. Illangakoon is heading a team set up on orders of the government to investigate the sudden rise in such instances of disappearances mainly to have taken place in Colombo and the suburbs.

“We are in the process of collecting information from local police stations where complaints on cases of disappearance have been lodged. But we feel that there can be some instances of this nature which may have not been reported to the Police,” DIG Illangakoon told The Sunday Times. He said the police were yet to ascertain whether the disappearances were linked to extortions or for other motives.

The Human Rights Commission which has also been receiving complaints regarding the spate of disappearances is also conducting its own investigations, HR Commissioner retired Judge P. Ramanathan said.

He said a retired High Court Judge Mahanama Tillakaratna has been named to probe the cases of disappearances.

Unidentified men are known to have called over at homes or business establishments and carried out the abductions.

In some cases a ransom had been demanded for the release of the abducted person, while in other cases the motives are yet to be discerned as no demands have been made.

Late last month some unidentified men had visited a Wellawatte store owned by Thillaivasan Dayananthan and later had telephoned his textile shop also in Wellawatte trying to locate the owner.

At the time Mr. Dayananthan, his wife and two children were out of the country but the men still on the lookout for him had also visited the residence of his parents who are both doctors.

A complaint regarding these incidents was lodged at the Wellawatte police station.

Earlier this week a doctor from Kotahena who was abducted was released after he paid an undisclosed sum of money while a jewellery shop owner abducted in Colombo was released after he promised to pay ransom of Rs. 100 million on an instalment basis.

In another instance an engineering faculty student was abducted at Mount Lavinia while returning home last week and is yet to be freed.

According to DIG Illangakoon one of the main obstacles the police were facing in carrying out investigations was the reluctance of the victims who were released to provide information about the abductors, the amount of money paid and any details about the locations at which they were held.

Police Chief Chandra Fernando told The Sunday Times the public’s assistance was essential to carrying out investigations into these cases and in apprehending the miscreants.

“If the public give us information they may have, then the police will be better able to carryout a full investigation,” he said.

He said one of the aspects under investigation was whether the complaints were genuine and if any money was paid. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has personally assured the TNA and other Tamil parties to look into the allegations and take remedial action.

A proposed protest campaign by Tamil parties scheduled to be held last week in Colombo was called off following assurances by the President and the government.