A 49-year-old Tamil man, Chandrakumar Chandrabalan, has died while in police custody at the Valvettithurai police station.

Chandrabalan, who was from Valvettithurai, was arrested by the Valvettithurai Police on Saturday after an arrest warrant was issued by Point Pedro Magistrate’s Court.

Chandrabalan suddenly fell ill and was taken to Valvettithurai hospital where he later died.

IndiGo is now the largest foreign airline in Sri Lanka, currently operating 54 weekly flights connecting Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai, with cities such as Colombo and Jaffna.

This is part of the initiative to grow bilateral ties aiming to “stimulate tourism and faster economic growth” according to Vinay Malhotra, Head of Global Sales at IndiGo.  

Today marks 32 years since the death of Sathasivam Krishnakumar alias Colonel Kittu, and nine other LTTE cadres, who committed suicide after being surrounded by Indian navy warships in 1993.

The nine other cadres who passed away with Col. Kittu were:

- Lt.Col. Kuttisiri: Rasaiah Sri Ganesan from Suthumalai, Jaffna

- Sea Tiger Captain Jeeva: Nadarajah Mark Jeyarajah from Pashaiyoor, Jaffna

- Sea Tiger Captain Gunaseelan: Segan Cruz Michael Jeeva from Maniam Thottam in Jaffna

Sri Lanka has signed an agreement with Sinopec, the Chinese international petroleum corporation, to construct a US$3.7 billion oil refinery in Hambantota, as Anura Kumara Dissanayake continued his visit to Beijing today.

The facility, with a processing capacity of 200,000 barrels per day, will primarily serve export markets, enhancing the country’s foreign exchange earnings, according to Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Civil Aviation Bimal Rathnayake.