Indian national shot dead in Colombo

Akmakuru Prasad of Andhra Pradesh was shot dead by unidentified men in a Colombo suburb, reports PK Balachandran.

An Indian hailing from Andhra Pradesh was shot dead by unidentified men in Dehiwela, a suburb of Colombo, on Wednesday, police said.

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According to the Indian High Commission, the victim was Akmakuru Prasad alias Durga Prasad (35) of Secunderabad in Andhra Pradesh with an Indian passport bearing the number S-0412612.

He was working as a radio engineer with Eriksson here in the island, seconded by Aster Tele Services of Hyderabad and had been in Sri Lanka since September 2004.

Prasad had gone out to buy his dinner at about 9.45 pm, when he was shot. There were no eye witnesses to the shooting, officials said.

He was rushed to nearby Kalubowila hospital and later to the Colombo National Hospital where he died. His was body was removed to the police mortuary, for the post mortem.

The next of kin in Secunderabad were informed and arrangements would be made to send the body to Hyderabad as soon as possible, the Indian High Commission said.

The police would not speculate on the motive for the killing. But as of now, a political motive is not indicated. There could have been a personal motive or it could been a case of mistaken identity, some police sources said.

Balendran (45) a top Tamil businessman was gunned down late on Tuesday night. Last year, a Tamil man and wife running a communication centre were shot dead while at work in their office in the afternoon.

On Wednesday, the Sri Lankan TV and radio giant, Maharaja Organisation, held a press conference to allege that its chairman Kili Rajamahendran had received death threats from a politician from Sri Lanka. The Commonwealth Broadcasting Union had condemned the threat.