Former Sri Lankan state minister and paramilitary leader Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, widely known as Pillayan, will remain in remand custody until 24 July as the Criminal Investigation Department continues its investigation into a string of fatal shootings in Batticaloa in 2008.
The order was issued by Batticaloa Magistrate Annathurai Darshini after Pillayan was produced before court via video conference on 13 July.
Pillayan, who has been arrested under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act, has been named as the third suspect in a case filed by the CID over five killings in the Batticaloa district.
The investigation centres on three separate shootings in 2008, during a period when armed paramilitary groups aligned with the Sri Lankan state operated across the Eastern Province. According to investigators, the killings were carried out with T-56 firearms.
The first incident took place on 9 January 2008 near a playground close to the Murugan Temple in Kallady, Batticaloa, where two people, including a former police officer, were shot dead.
The second shooting took place on 22 May 2008 on the main road in Kattankudy, where two more people were killed.
A fifth person was shot dead by an armed group in Kothiyapulai, in the Vavunathivu area, on 20 August that year.
The CID has identified Pillayan as a suspect allegedly connected to the three incidents. Witnesses appeared during the latest hearing, while two lawyers made submissions on Pillayan’s behalf. Following consideration of the evidence and submissions placed before court, the magistrate extended Pillayan’s remand until 24 July.
A separate case concerning a land dispute in Kallady, linked to the same incident, was adjourned until 29 October.
Pillayan was previously remanded until 13 July after appearing before the Batticaloa Magistrate’s Court at the end of June. At the time, he dismissed the allegations against him as fabricated.
The case has renewed attention on Pillayan’s long and controversial role in the Eastern Province. Pillayan leads the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, the paramilitary group that broke away from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the 2004 split led by Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, known as Karuna Amman. The TMVP aligned itself with the Sri Lankan state and became a key paramilitary force in the East, facing sustained allegations of abductions, killings, intimidation and other abuses against Tamils.
Pillayan went on to contest the 2008 Eastern Provincial Council election under Mahinda Rajapaksa and was installed as chief minister of the Eastern Province. He later served as a state minister under Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The renewed case also recalls earlier allegations against Pillayan in connection with the assassination of Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham. Pararajasingham was shot dead on Christmas Day 2005 while attending midnight mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Batticaloa. His wife, Sugunam Pararajasingham, was seriously wounded in the attack, alongside several other civilians. Pillayan was arrested in 2015 over the assassination and spent years in remand custody before being released on bail in 2020.
The Attorney General later dropped the case against him in 2021, during the presidency of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The next hearing is expected on 24 July.