Major General Kamal Gunaratne Murdered Balachandran on Gotabhaya's Order

Gunaratne was ordered to personally supervise the boy’s killing and to destroy his body.

LTTE leader, Vellupillai Prabhakaran (L), standing with his wife Mathivathani (R) and son Balachandran from a collection of photographs that government soldiers said they discovered in a “hideout” in northern Sri Lanka (Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence)

(COLOMBO Lanka News Web) - LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s 14 year old son Balachnadran Prabhakaran had been killed after surrendering to the army on a direct order of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Lanka News Web learns that Balachandran had been killed under the supervision of the Commander of the 53rd Brigade Brigadier Kamal Gunaratne.

Balachandran had surrendered to the army near the Nadikadal Lagoon at 7.30 a.m. on May 19, 2009. He had surrendered to a group of eight soldiers led Sergeant Mutubanda from the 4th Vijayaba Infantry Regiment.

Balachandran had said his father, Velupillai Prabhakaran had been shot dead the previous night and that his body was hidden in a shrub near the Nandikadal Lagoon. Mutubanda had then informed the detail to Lieutenant Nalaka from the C Group of the 4th Vijayaba Infantry Regiment.

Nalaka together with another officer named Kirinda and Sergeant Wijesinghe were engaged in a search operation in the Nandikadal Lagoon at the time.

Nalaka had informed the Commanding Officer of the 4th Vijayaba Infantry Regiment Lieutenant Colonel Rohitha Aluvihare that a boy claiming to be Prabhakaran’s son along with two security personnel had surrendered to the army. He had then informed the head of the 53rd Brigade, Brigadier Kamal Gunaratne about the matter through head of the 681 platoon, Lieutenant Colonel Lalntha Gamage.

Following orders, Brigadier Gunaratne together with Lieutenant Nalaka and Balachnadran had gone to the shrub in the Nandikadal Lagoon and shown Prabhakaran’s body to the army.

Balachandran's body

Lalantha Gamage had then personally taken charge of Balachandran and taken him to Gunaratne.

Gunaratne had then personally interrogated Balachandran.

During the interrogation Balachandran had said his father was killed the previous night when he was caught in the crossfire between the LTTE and security forces.

He had said that his father’s body was hidden and two of his security personnel who had survived the battle the previous night had then surrendered to the army with him.

Balachandran had said that he was with his father in one boat trying to escape the gunfire while his mother and sister were in another. However, he had said his father was shot during the battle and that he was unaware of what had become of his mother and sister.

Balachandran had also revealed that his father and his few remaining security personnel had fought back, but excluding two members of the security detail, everyone had been killed in the gun battle.

Gunaratne had informed all the details he had learnt from Balachandran to the Defence Secretary on his mobile phone. The Defence Secretary had informed all the details to Karuna Amman.

Karuna Amman had told the Defence Secretary that Balachandran should be killed since there was a possibility that he would become the next LTTE leader if he survived and because he would be released from courts since he was under age.

The Defence Secretary had then ordered Gunaratne to personally supervise Balachandran’s killing and to destroy his body.

These details have been revealed by an army officer to a foreign government since he is now being accused over the telecast of footage of Balachandran’s murder in a Channel 4 film. The army officer had said that he did not want to be held accountable for sins committed by others.