Priyantha Kumara’s remains flown back to Sri Lanka from Lahore
LAHORE/GUJRANWALA, Dec 06 (SABAH): The human remains of Priyantha Kumara, the Sri Lankan manager of a factory who was lynched by a mob in Sialkot, were repatriated to Sri Lanka with state honours on Monday from Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore.
Last week, 49-year-old Kumara was tortured to death and his body was burnt over the allegations of blasphemy. So far 131 suspects have been arrested in the case, while 26 people are prime suspects.
According to a Sri Lankan High Commission tweet, his remains were transferred from Lahore to Colombo by Sri Lankan Airlines.
Government officials, including Punjab Minister for Human Rights Ejaz Alam, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Religious Harmony Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi and Sri Lankan honorary Council General Yasin Joiya, received Kumara’s remains before departure to Sri Lanka.
The Punjab government expressed solidarity with the Sri Lankan government and people over the brutal death of the citizen. In a statement on twitter, the provincial government said: “We share the grief of the Sri Lankan government, the public and bereaved families over the killing of Kumara and assure the nation that the provincial government will fulfill all its responsibilities related to the incident.”
Meanwhile, 26 suspects arrested in connection with the lynching of the Sri Lankan factory manager have been remanded into police custody on 15 days physical remand.
The police presented the suspects before an anti-terrorism court in Gujranwala on Monday and requested their remand for interrogation.
During the hearing, the names of the suspects were called out to mark their presence. All the suspects responded to their names except for one, named Shoaib alias Gonga (speech impaired).
The investigation officer informed the court that Shoaib is speech impaired.
The police requested the court to grant 15-day remand of the suspects for interrogation which the court accepted and ordered the investigation officer to present them on December 21.
Moreover, seven other suspects involved in the lynching were arrested, the police said. So far, a total of 131 suspects have been arrested in connection with the Sialkot lynching case.
A statement issued by the Punjab police spokesperson said that arrested suspects Sikandar, Rashid, Ahmed Shehzad, Zohaib, Muhammad Irshad, Subhan and Umair Ali, were part of the mob that brutally murdered Priyantha.
In particular, Sikandar kept gathering people on the factory’s rooftop and inciting the attack, Shehzad was armed with a stick and Zohaib was involved in planning to provoke others for violence, the spokesperson said.
He said that the latest arrests have been made with the help of CCTV camera videos and mobile phone data. Interrogation of the arrested suspects has started, he added.
Speaking about the progress in investigations of the case, 26 suspects were found to have played a key role in the gruesome murder.
He said that CM Buzdar and the Punjab inspector-general of police are continuously monitoring the investigations and process of the identification of arrested suspects is underway.