Sampath Prathiviraj, a state witness, gave the evidence before additional magistrate Thilina Gamage, when he took up the case pertaining to the murder of MP Nadaraja Raviraj.
A policeman, Prathiviraj had been a member of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s security team.
On DIG’s instructions
He told the court that on the instructions of DIG Rohan Abeywardena, he had engaged in operations against the LTTE in the east with the Karuna faction in 2005.
Prathiviraj has been told by Sindujan, a leading member of the Karuna faction, that it was a gang including him that had killed Pararajasingham.
Further details were well known to the faction’s east leader Iniyabharati, Sindujan has also told him.
Cross examined by lawyers for the defendants, Prathiviraj also said that what he had told police in a statement in 2008 over the Raviraj murder was not true.
Feared for his life
He said he had feared for his life.
Previously a suspect in the Raviraj killing, Prathiviraj was later named a state witness by the attorney general.
Suspects in the case – Pradeep Chaminda, Gamini Seneviratne, Prasad Hettiarachchi and Sampath Munasinghe – were produced before courts, while open warrants have been issued for Vivekananda and Tusent.
The next hearing is due to for January 29, 'BBC Sandeshaya' reports.
