Former State Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, widely known as Pillayan, has been further remanded until August 18 in the case concerning five murders allegedly committed in the Batticaloa District in 2008.
The order was issued on Tuesday after he was produced before Batticaloa Magistrate Annathurai Darshini through an online hearing, NewsFirst reported. Chandrakanthan, who is being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, appeared before court virtually from Welisara Prison, while the first and second suspects in the case appeared from Batticaloa Prison.
The case has been filed by the Criminal Investigation Department against Chandrakanthan and other suspects over five separate killings reported in various parts of the Batticaloa District in 2008.
A recurring remand chain
Tuesday’s hearing was the date set at the previous appearance, when the former Eastern Province politician was remanded until August 4. That order in turn followed an earlier extension of his detention in mid-July.
Chandrakanthan, a former commander of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) who went on to serve as Chief Minister of the Eastern Province and later as a State Minister, has been in custody since his confession to the 2006 abduction and killing of Eastern University Vice Chancellor Professor S. Ravindranath. That case opened a sustained accountability track against him over killings in the east.
He is separately pursuing a fundamental rights petition before the Supreme Court, which has been fixed for January 2027.
Producing remand suspects by video link has become standard practice in high-profile security cases. No other verified newsroom had published an account of Tuesday’s hearing at the time of writing.
