Murali, the witness in the Ekneligoda case, brought to the Homagama court amidst tight security, reveals the incident.

The evidence hearing in the case filed against seven army intelligence officers regarding the abduction of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda on August 27, 2009, was held today (28) before the Homagama High Court. There, Sumathipala Suresh Kumara, also known as Thavendran or "Murali," the fourth witness in this case, began giving his testimony in open court.

A notable event was the implementation of a special security program within the Homagama High Court premises, deploying the police and the Police Special Task Force for the protection of this witness. The witness revealed before the court that he had represented the LTTE organization in the past and, after the war ended, surrendered to the army and worked with them.

The witness stated that he met former Members of Parliament Selvam Adaikkalanathan and Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena when they attended a festival at the Madu Shrine in Mannar. The witness mentioned that Mr. Selvam Adaikkalanathan introduced Mr. Prageeth Ekneligoda to him at that time, and this relationship, which began during the ceasefire period after 2001, continued until the 2004 tsunami disaster, he told the court.

He stated that after surrendering to the army, he stayed at the Trincomalee army camp for some time, and was later taken to the Giritale camp, handcuffed, and detained. The witness also revealed that during that period, he was made to call various individuals by activating the phone's loudspeaker. Furthermore, when officers questioned him about the phone number in his pocket at the time of his surrender, it was revealed to be Mr. Prageeth Ekneligoda's number, and while giving evidence, the witness was able to identify several defendants in court, including Chammikumara Rathnam and Prabodha Siriwardena.

When the witness attempted to state that he had exchanged ideas with Mr. Prageeth Ekneligoda in January 2010 while giving evidence, strong objections were raised by the defense counsel. The lawyers questioned how such facts could be presented in a case being heard at the Homagama High Court concerning the abduction that occurred on October 27, 2009, given that another case related to the 2010 incident is being heard before a three-judge High Court. The lawyers pointed out that according to Section 5 of the Evidence Ordinance, they object to giving evidence extraneous to the relevant incident, but there is no impediment to leading evidence only on the relevant series of events.

Lawyers from both sides presented lengthy arguments regarding this objection. Here, State Counsel Mr. Voxwell Perera led the evidence for the prosecution, while a team of lawyers, including Senior Counsel Mr. Rasika Balasuriya, appeared for the defendants. The Homagama High Court judge ordered written submissions to be filed regarding the objections raised and postponed further evidence hearing and the pronouncement of the relevant order until September 30.