Nadarajah Thangavelu ( ta, நடராசா தங்கவேல்; died 25 July 1983; commonly known by the nom-de-guerre Thangadurai) was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and one of the founders 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. ...

, a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka.

Early militancy

In 1969 a small group of militant Tamil youths from

Valvettithurai Valvettithurai ( ta, வல்வெட்டித்துறை, translit=Valveṭṭittuṟai; si, වල්වෙට්ටිතුරෙයි, translit=Valveṭṭitureyi), sometimes shortened as VVT or Valvai, is a coastal town of Jaffna ...

formed an underground group. The group was known as the Thangadurai Group and was led by Thangadurai and Kuttimani. The group would later be known as the Tamil Liberation Organisation (TLO). Other members of the group included V. Prabhakaran,

Sri Sabaratnam Sundaram Sri Sabaratnam ( ta, சிறி சபாரத்தினம்; 28 August 1952 – 6 May 1986) was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), a separatist Tamil militant organisatio ...

, Pon Sivakumaran, Periya Sothi, Chinna Sothi, Chetti and Kannadi. The group would hold secret meetings at a professor's house in

Point Pedro Point Pedro ( ta, பருத்தித்துறை, translit=Paruttittuṟai; si, පේදුරු තුඩුව, translit=Pēduru Tuḍuva) is a town, located in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka, at the northernmost point of the island. ...

, collect weapons and build crude bombs. The group carried out various arson attacks and attempted assassinations and formed close ties with

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

politicians and the Research and Analysis Wing, the Indian intelligence agency. In April 1971 Thangadurai and 15 others were making explosives at a school in Thondamanar when a bomb exploded, seriously injuring Chinna Sothi. The following year Thangadurai, Prabhakaran, Chinna Sothi and Vythilingam Nadesathasan (Nadesudasan) were burnt in a similar explosion. In March 1977 Thangadurai and Jegan shot dead

police informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...

Thadi Thangarajah at his house in Kokuvil. At a meeting in a Hindu temple in Thondamanaru in September 1977 Thangadurai formally established the organisation as the

(TELO), together with its military wing Tamil Eelam Liberation Army (TELA). As the violence increased the Sri Lankan government declared a state of emergency in the Jaffna Peninsula in late 1979 and sent in more troops. Thangadurai, Kuttimani, Prabhakaran and others fled to Tamil Nadu.

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 mo ...

after collecting cash in Vadamarachchi 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 by a group of TELO including Thangadurai and Kuttimani. Thangadurai, Kuttimani and Selvadurai Sivasubramaniam (alias Devan) were arrested in Mannalkadal on 8 April 1981 as they tried to escape to India by boat. Thangadurai, Kuttimani, Devan, Navaratnarah (Nadarajah) Sivapatham (alias Sivapalan Master) and Nadesudasan were charged in connection with 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.

Death

Thangadurai, Kuttimani, Devan, Sivapatham and Nadesudasan were kept at

Welikada Prison The Welikada Prison (also known as the ''Magazine Prison'') is a maximum security prison and the largest prison in Sri Lanka. It was built in 1841 by the British colonial government under Governor Cameron. The prison covers an area of . It is ove ...

whilst their appeal was waiting to be heard by the Supreme Court. On the night of 24 July 1983 an anti-Tamil riot started in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

. The following day the riot spread to Welikada Prison, Sinhalese prisoners attacked Tamil prisoners using knives and clubs, killing 39. Amongst the victims were Thangadurai and Kuttimani. Survivors reported that the pair were forced to kneel whilst their eyes were gouged out with iron bars (an

allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...

to Kutimani's statement in court) and that one of the attackers cut out Kutimani's tongue and drank his blood, crying "I have drunk the blood of a Tiger". Survivors also claimed that the prison officers allowed their keys to fall into the hand of the Sinhalese prisoners.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thangadurai 1983 deaths Fugitives wanted by Sri Lanka People from Northern Province, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Tamil rebels Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization militants Year of birth missing Research and Analysis Wing