Rajapaksa’s kin attacked in Ramanathapuram

| by C. Jaishankar
Source: The Hindu 

Nirupama Rajapaksa, cousin of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, with husband Thirukumaran Natesan, at Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple in Madurai on November 10, 2009. File Photo: S. James.

( January 10, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Thirukumaran Nadesan, husband of Sri Lankan Member of Parliament Nirupama Rajapaksa, was attacked on Tuesday in Rameswaram by a group of activists.

The attack was unleashed when he was coming out of a house after performing puja.

He was on a two-day visit to Rameswaram to offer prayer at Sri Ramanathaswamy temple.

The activists of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and Nam Tamilar Iyakkam, who came to know about the arrival of Mr. Nadesan, laid seize to a house at Nadutheru, where he was performing puja, protesting against the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

When Mr. Nadesan was emerging out of the house, the activists led by the State deputy secretary of the youth wing of MDMK Karate Palanisamy, attacked him with black flag sticks, footwear and others. The priests, who accompanied him from the house, pulled him back into the house and closed the door.

The policemen, who were posted for providing security him, intervened and removed the agitators from the scene.

Although it was not known immediately about the nature injuries, he received big blows by the agitators.

Sensing the situation, the policemen hurriedly escorted him to a hotel from the house from where he began his journey with tight police protection by vacating the hotel immediately.

Nirupama Rajapaksa is the niece of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.