The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) this evening arrested the driver of former MP Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, widely known as ‘Pillayan’, in connection with the 2006 abduction and disappearance of former Eastern University Vice Chancellor, Professor S. Raveendranath.

This latest arrest comes as part of an intensified investigation into the unresolved case that has haunted the academic community for nearly two decades. Prof. Raveendranath went missing under suspicious circumstances in December 2006, shortly after arriving in Colombo to attend official meetings. He was last seen in the vicinity of the BMICH.

Pillayan, a former Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, was himself arrested by the CID in Batticaloa on 8 April and subsequently detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for 90 days from 12 April.