Former State Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, known as Pillayan, has been remanded until 10 November in the Criminal Investigation Department’s case over five murders committed in the Batticaloa District in 2008. He was produced before the Batticaloa Magistrate’s Court through an online hearing.
The order was reported by NewsFirst at 4.50 p.m. Colombo time on Tuesday.
The CID has filed proceedings against Chandrakanthan and other suspects in connection with five separate murder incidents that took place in various parts of the Batticaloa District in 2008.
The photograph above is a file image of Chandrakanthan in custody from an earlier court appearance. Tuesday’s hearing was conducted online and he was not produced in person.
This is a continuation, not a new case
The remand is the latest step in a cycle that has been running since the middle of the year, and the archive shows its rhythm clearly.
| Date | Step |
|---|---|
| 15 June 2026 | The CID tells Batticaloa Magistrate Annathurai Darshini that Chandrakanthan and two others are linked to five killings from 2008 |
| 13 July 2026 | Further remanded to 24 July |
| 24 July 2026 | Further remanded to 4 August |
| 4 August 2026 | Further remanded to 18 August |
| 27 October 2026 | Further remanded to 10 November |
The pattern is of a suspect held on remand while an investigation continues, with the court renewing detention at intervals of roughly two to four weeks. This desk’s record has a gap between 18 August and Tuesday, and the filing does not say how many remand extensions fell in it. Readers should not read the table as a complete list of hearings.
What is new on Tuesday is the date and the mode of appearance. Nothing in the filing indicates new charges, new suspects, or a change in the case’s scope.
A separate case should not be confused with this one
Chandrakanthan faces more than one proceeding, and they are at different stages.
On 17 August 2026 the Attorney General indicted him and three co-accused over the 2006 abduction and killing of Eastern University Vice-Chancellor Professor S. Ravindranath. That is an indictment in a different matter, concerning a different victim in a different year, and it is not what Tuesday’s remand relates to.
The matter before the Batticaloa Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday is the CID’s five-murder investigation from 2008, which remains at the investigation stage. A remand order is a step in a live investigation, not a finding of guilt, and no court has made any finding of fact against him in it.
Who he is
Chandrakanthan is a former Chief Minister of the Eastern Province and a former State Minister, and led the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal. He has been in custody through this period, which is why this desk has previously flagged the importance of not describing him as making public statements while remanded.
Not reported
The filing does not name the magistrate who made Tuesday’s order, give the identities of the five 2008 victims, or say how many other suspects are before the court in the same proceeding. It does not say why the hearing was conducted online rather than in person.
It does not report whether any bail application was made or refused on Tuesday, whether the CID told the court what remains outstanding in the investigation, or whether the Attorney General has indicated when a decision on indictment in this matter might come. It gives no indication of how long the investigation has left to run.
It does not say whether his fundamental rights petition, filed in July and listed for January 2027, bears on this detention.
On sourcing: this report rests on a single verified newsroom. The Daily Mirror’s breaking-news listing carried no filing on the remand, and a check of the Hiru News homepage rail on Tuesday evening found none either. Ada Derana has returned a CloudFront block to this desk for 45 consecutive days and could not be checked.
