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The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has drawn attention to an incident where the police had allegedly tortured a man, accused of murder, to force him to provide five names during interrogation in the Nawalapitiya police station on January 9.
All five men named were accordingly arrested. One man was allegedly tortured. The other four were placed in remand prison despite the fact that these four were not at the crime scene in the estate when the murder occurred., AHRC said in a statement.
It said Govindaraj was arrested for the murder of Bandula Ariyapala, a businessman on January 9, 2009. After the arrest, Nawalapitiya police allegedly hung him from the ceiling and tortured him to reveal five names. Due to the severity of the torture, he finally named friends who had no knowledge about this murder case.
On the following day, Yogashwaran was arrested at a funeral home. The other four, named Johnsinghe Amaranayake, Micheal Karen, George, Tarjan, accompanied by their lawyer, surrendered themselves at the police station. Yogashwaran was allegedly tortured for three days after his arrest until he was brought before the Nawalapitiya court on January 13, the statement said.
It is reported that the four accused men, with the exception of Yogashwaran, were not in the estate when the murder of the businessman took place. Violence, however, had occurred in this area. Several houses where Tamil tea plantation workers lived were burned down and destroyed. Police allegedly attempted to accuse the five men in order to satisfy a minister, who was supported by the late Ariyapala, AHRC claimed.
