Information that has come to light in the course of the investigation into the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda confirms that former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is directly involved in the murder of MP Nadaraja Raviraj and his two bodyguards in Narahenpita.
Making submissions to courts earlier, the CID said the then chief bodyguard of former Navy commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda and head of the Navy’s white van gang, Lt. Commander Sampath Munasinghe alias Navy Sampath, had committed these murders.
In a confession, Navy Sampath has said that Raviraj was murdered on the orders of the then state intelligence service’s deputy director SSP Maheel Doole, who had told him, “This is an order by the boss (Gotabhaya).”
The murder weapon, a T-56, was given Navy Sampath by Lt. Col. Shammi Kumararatne, the then fourth Army intelligence corp at Giritale, investigations have revealed.
Kumararatne has signed the order to issue the weapon by the Army’s armoury to Navy Sampath, and said the order had come from the then defence secretary. Two independent witnesses have corroborated this claim.
http://lankanewsweb.net/news/special-news/item/556-ekneligoda-probe-reveals-raviraj-killer
Munasinghe, leader of navy white van killer squad arrested : ex Navy Commander Karannagoda was fully aware of the operation
(Lanka-e-News- 19.March.2015, 11.00PM) The killing of ten Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil students residing at Matakkuliya and Trincomalee who passed the GCE adv. Level and had the eligibility requirement to enter Universities during the period 2008-2009 ,after having them abducted by the white Van , (though 38 students were abducted there is evidence in respect of ten students only) were committed by the Navy white van leader , ex Navy media spokesman, Commodore D.K.P. Dassanayake , as revealed by the police media spokesman on March 2 nd had been proved half true .
These innocent children were killed by the navy white van murder squad after obtaining extortion money from the parents of the children. Moreover , the actual leader of this ruthless murder squad is the Flag officer Captain Munasinghe, the personal assistant to the ex navy Commander Vasantha Karannagoda. The former had already been arrested, and is to be produced before court today or tomorrow , according to reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division.
On that date the police media spokesman said , Karannagoda provided the information to the police , and that murder group was operating on the sly without his knowledge.
However based on the information unearthed by Lanka e news , the factual situation is :
The aforementioned Navy white van operations have been carried out under ex defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse and with the full knowledge of Vasantha Karannagoda , the navy commander at that time .
It is on this account , Sampath Munasinghe , the personal assistant to Karannagoda and most close to him was chosen as the leader of the murder squad by Karannagoda himself.
12 Navy murderer officers including Commodore D.K.P.D Dassanayake , Lieutenant Commodores Ranasinghe and Hettiarachi constituted this murder squad.
Later , Sampath Munasinghe has had an illicit affair with the spouse of Karannagoda, and when the latter came to know of this , Munasinghe had fled and gone into hiding. Karannagoda had then given orders to Dassanayake , the navy media spokesman to track down his wife ‘s paramour and kill him somehow. Dassanayake however ,instead of abiding by Karannagoda’s order had arranged for Munasinghe to flee the country.
Karannagoda who got wind of this attempt , in order to take revenge on these two officers had complained to the CID along with the identity cards of the murdered children alleging that these two naval officers killed the children after abducting them.
When Munasinghe heard of this , he had decided to disclose the truth . That is , by informing former army commander General Sarath Fonseka who was angry with Karannagoda at that time of the actual events via a confession . Munasinghe had exposed that the white Van operations were carried out with the knowledge of Karannagoda , while pleading with Fonseka to provide him ( Munasinghe) with security knowing well his own vulnerability to retaliation.
Fonseka had advised Munasinghe, the only way he can be rescued without getting killed is to surrender to the police , and handed over Munasinghe to the CID. At that time the media reported Navy Sampath who was involved in the white van operations was arrested. ‘Navy Samapath’ is this Samapath Munasinghe.
Sampath Munasinghe was at that time married to the daughter of Raja Collure an ex M.P. and a communist party politburo member.
Munasinghe , because of this relationship and since he murdered on behalf of Gotabaya , was held in police custody for a while until the public outcry and protest died down , and later released exonerated of all charges.
Now , it is this same incident that has surfaced again. Yet the police are only revealing part of it. That is, whitewashing Navy commander Karannagoda’s criminal implications on the false premise that he knew nothing about the crimes , and fastening the blame entirely on his ‘buddies’ and lackeys while also taking advantage of the media reports about the abduction , extortions and murders of the children by the navy media spokesman . The reasons for this are many. One reason is : the moment Karannagoda’s criminal involvement is highlighted , naturally and obviously the spotlight also falls on Gotabaya , the other accomplice if not direct murderer .
Like how it is very evident the president is currently not taking action against the Rajapakses over their criminal acts and involvements , another similar drama is in the making to make the inferior officers the scapegoats and liable for the stark murders while safeguarding the higher ups who gave the orders to commit the crimes.
In any event , a most incriminating evidence against Karannagoda had come to light . That is , during that period when the children were abducted , when minister Felix Perera had inquired from Karannagoda about the fate of these innocent children , the latter had stated ,they are in the custody of the naval force. This is cogent and substantive evidence proving that Karannagoda was fully aware of the whereabouts of the children and other details.
It is most rudely shocking that despite availability of such copious and cogent evidence , the deputy solicitor general Shavenndra Fernando of the Attorney general’s (AG) department , it is learnt ,is acting in a manner that is militating against a fair investigation and favoring the murderers , according to reports reaching Lanka e news.
No matter what , Sampath Munasinghe the leader of the white van squad is now held in custody by the CID. But what is intriguing and mystifying about this episode is , why this is not being revealed
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by (2015-03-19 18:53:42)