Valvettithurai statue issue: intensive police inquiry of former municipal council member

Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers have questioned Kandasamy Satheesh, a former member of the Valvettithurai Municipal Council, over the attempt to install statues in Valvettithurai of Kuttimani and Thangathurai, founding leaders of the Tamil Eelam liberation movement.

The inquiry, held yesterday (07.11.2026) at the Terrorism Investigation Division office in Jaffna and lasting about three hours, mostly raised questions about how funds were collected to install the statues and what the funding sources were, it is reported.

Earlier, Terrorism Investigation Division police had gone directly to Satheesh's home in Valvettithurai and conducted a preliminary inquiry. He has now been called to the Jaffna office for a second, detailed round of questioning.

Kuttimani and Thangathurai were leading founders of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization; they died in 1983. Attempts to install memorial statues for them in the north have repeatedly been subject to controversy and legal action in the past. Investigations into this matter are expected to continue.