Colombo: Sri Lanka has asked Interpol to
remove the name of feared Tamil Tiger intelligence chief Pottu
Amman from its most wanted list, though his body has never
been found even ten months after the military campaign against
LTTE ended.
Pottu Amman is also wanted across the sea in India in
connection with the assassination of former prime minister
Rajiv Gandhi. He is also wanted for 1996 bloody bombing of the
Sri Lankan Central Bank, which left 91 people dead.
"The Sri Lankan government yesterday asked Interpol to
delete the name of LTTE`s former intelligence chief Pottu
Amman from its most wanted list," military intelligence chief
Kapila Hendawitarana said.
"The government has reason to believe he (Amman) had
been killed during the final stages of the war," the Daily
Mirror quoted Hendawitarana as saying.
Though the Sri Lankan Army made DNA identifications of
all the top LTTE leaders including the organisation`s late
supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, they have been unable to trace
the body of Pottu Amman.
But, the paper said that the Sri Lankan authorities
appeared to have no option but to go by information divulged
by a Tiger cadre that Pottu Amman was killed before the Tigers
made their last abortive breakout bid from Pudukudiyirippu
forests.
The state-run newspaper Sunday Observer in May last
year had said that despite Tiger cadre claims that the
47-year-old LTTE intelligence chief had been killed, the army
carried on with the investigations to try to locate his body.
Also among the untraceable are Prabhakaran`s daughter,
wife and second son. This had led the LTTE remnants express
doubts over their death.
"The deaths of Prabhakaran`s wife Madivadanee and
daughter Dvaraka is also a puzzle to the military as they
could not find their bodies among the scores of Tiger cadres
killed," the Sunday Observer had said.
During the last days of the war, Pottu Amman had
reportedly been given temporary charge of the LTTE operations
and had ordered his then police chief Illango to marshall all
forces to the frontline.
The Sri Lankan Army made numerous bids to capture
Pottu Amman as he was thought to be a prize catch and at times
missed him just by a whisker.
In March last year, a hideout of Pottu Amman was
overrun by Sri Lankan troops on the fringes of Mullaittivu,
but could not find him in the safe house.
The safe house was used by both Pottu Amman and (his
deputy) Kapil Amman.
Troops had also found a jeep believed to have been
used by Pottu Amman himself during subsequent search
operations conducted in the area.
PTI
