Sundaram Sri Sabaratnam ( ta, சிறி சபாரத்தினம்; 28 August 1952 – 6 May 1986) was a

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

rebel and leader of the

Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) is an Eelam Tamil organisation which campaigned for the establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam in the northeast of Sri Lanka during 1972-1987 which later accepted the December 19th proposals. ...

(TELO), a separatist Tamil militant organisation in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Early life

Sabaratnam was born on 28 August 1952. Whilst in government custody between 1972 and 1975 his jailer nicknamed him "Tall Sri" to differentiate him from another Sri in custody.

Neervely bank robbery

On 25 March 1981 a People's Bank van returning to

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...

after collecting cash in

Vadamarachchi Vadamarachchi ( ta, வடமராட்சி Vaṭamarāṭci, si, වඩමාරච්චි) is one of the three historic regions of the Jaffna peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. The other two regions are Thenmarachchi and Valikamam. Alterna ...

was robbed of

Rs. Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

8 million on the Jaffna-Point Pedro Road in

Neervely Neervely is a village located in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It is located 8 km from Jaffna along the Point Pedro road. History An ancient limestone Buddha (believed to be from pre-Christian to 6th century CE) was found here and is now in the Jaffn ...

. N. Thangavelu (alias Thangadurai), S. Yogachandran (alias

Kuttimani Selvarajah Yogachandran, ( ta, செல்வராஜா யோகசந்திரன்) (died 25 July 1983) also known as Kuttimani was one of the leaders of the former Tamil militant organization TELO from Sri Lanka. He was arrested and s ...

), Selvadurai Sivasubramaniam (alias Devan), Navaratnarah (Nadarajah) Sivapatham (alias Sivapalan Master) and Vythilingam Nadesathasan (Nadesudasan) were arrested and charged in connection with the robbery. Sabaratnam was charged in absentia. The trial at Colombo High Court commenced on 2 November 1982 and on 24 February 1983 all six defendants were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Sabaratnam became leader of TELO after the killing of Thangathurai and Kuttimani during the

Welikada prison massacre The Welikada Prison Massacre took place during the 1983 Black July pogrom against Sri Lankan Tamil minority in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Fifty-three prisoners were killed inside a high-security prison. No one has been convicted of crimes relating to t ...

in July 1983.

Death

In April 1986 the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

(LTTE) banned TELO and set about killing its leader Sri Sabaratnam. Sabaratnam went on the run, fleeing from TELO's main base in Kalviyankadu to Neervely, then to

Kopay Kopay ( ta, கோப்பாய், translit=Kōppāy) is a town about 4 km from the city of Jaffna along Point Pedro road. An agricultural town consisting mainly of vegetable farms, paddy fields and coconut gardens. The suburb Kopay is ble ...

and finally to

Kondavil Kondavil (, ) is a suburb north of the Sri Lankan city of Jaffna. It is near many temples such as the Uppumada Pillaiyar Temple. As part of the Jaffna Peninsula, it was one of the final strongholds of the Tamil Tigers. Transport The area is serv ...

. The LTTE found out that he was in Kondavil and they, led by

Kittu ''Kittu'' ( te, కిట్టు) is a 2006 traditionally animated Indian feature film. It is the first animated film to be made in the Telugu language. It won the National Film Award and is also credited with AP state award (Nandi Award) as ...

, cordoned off the area and started a house-to-house search, using loud hailers to warn local residents not to shelter Sabaratnam. On 6 May 1986 the LTTE discovered Sabaratnam in a tobacco field and Kittu shot him in the leg to prevent him escaping. Sabaratnam pleaded with Kittu for his life, but Kittu shot him 28 times using a machine gun. Sabaratnam's bullet ridden body was displayed at Kondavil bus stand before being handed over to his family.

Early life

Neervely bank robbery

Death

Notes

References

Further reading