The Court of Appeal has set aside the judgment delivered by the Colombo High Court acquitting five defendants, including Sri Lanka Navy personnel, in connection with the killing of former TNA Member of Parliament Nadaraja Raviraj in 2006.

Accordingly, the Court of Appeal has ordered that a fresh trial be conducted into the case, according to Ada Derana reporter.

The judgment was delivered by a Court of Appeal bench comprising Justices Sasi Mahendran and Amal Ranaraja, following the hearing of an appeal filed by the Attorney General challenging the Colombo High Court’s decision to acquit the defendants.

The late Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj who represented the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) from the Jaffna District, died in hospital after being shot by unidentified gunmen in Colombo on November 10, 2006.

He was shot as he left his house in Colombo for work. One of his guards, Sgt. Lakshman Lokuwella, was also killed in the attack.

Nadarajah Raviraj, a former mayor of Jaffna and a lawyer by profession, had his own law firm: “Raviraj and Associates”. 

He was a native of Chavakachcheri in the Thenmaratchy sector of Jaffna.  Raviraj was elected as a Councilor to the Jaffna Municipal Council in 1997.  

He was elected to the Parliament in the 2001 General Election for the first time representing Jaffna district and was re-elected in 2004.

Raviraj’s murder took place within one year of the killing of veteran Eastern Province Parliamentarian, Joseph Pararajasingham.