A former member of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) has said the paramilitary group was behind a series of murders across the North-East and Colombo, including those of journalist Atputharajah Nadarajah, attorney-at-law Maheswari, and Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation employee K. S. Raja.
Speaking at a press conference at the Jaffna Press Club on Tuesday, Subbiah Ponnaiya, also known as Satha, alleged that the killings, long publicly blamed on the LTTE, had in fact been carried out by the EPDP.
“If investigations are pursued, I am ready to come forward as a witness, even at the risk of threats to my life,” he declared.
Ponnaiya recounted that in August 1990, during the Mandaitivu military siege, he had accompanied others bringing relief supplies when they saw around 15–20 civilians detained by the Sri Lankan army. Among them was a boy of about 13 years. He said soldiers told them that EPDP leader Douglas Devananda wanted to see the detainees. Within minutes of their departure, gunfire was heard, and all of them had been shot dead, Ponnaiya said.
He went on to describe how, after the EPDP took control of Neduntivu, a government officer named Niklas was summoned. When he refused to appear, he was beaten, tortured to death, and his body hung.
Other murders allegedly carried out by the EPDP included Devananda’s own chief bodyguard, killed under the pretext of LTTE links; Maheswari, a lawyer from Nelliyadi; and Atputharajah Nadarajah, a former MP and editor of the Tamil newspaper Thinamarasu.
Ponnaiya also accused the group of killing K. S. Raja, a Rupavahini employee brought from India to work on EPDP media projects. He claimed Raja was taken to Galle Face, given liquor laced with cyanide, and killed after falling into conflict with the party.
Two Hill Country Tamils, Mohan and Viji, were also allegedly murdered, their bodies forced into a latrine pit and destroyed with acid. Another victim, Suri of Jaffna, was reportedly killed in Colombo. When EPDP members attempted to dump his body on the seashore, residents alerted the police, who arrested those involved.
Ponnaiya further alleged that “numerous killings” had taken place at an EPDP-owned house on Park Road, Colombo. He insisted he had direct knowledge of these crimes and would testify if impartial investigations were carried out.
The EPDP, a government-aligned paramilitary organisation led by former Sri Lankan Minister Douglas Devananda, has long been accused of abductions, extortion, and killings in the Tamil homeland. Survivors and rights groups have repeatedly called for independent international investigations into its role in atrocities.
