A Thinakaran correspondent and freelance journalist was yesterday released on bail after he was taken in for questioning by the Mullaitivu police following an alleged assault on a Navy officer.
Sanmugam Thawaseelam was questioned by the police for over three hours before he was produced before the Mullaitivu Acting Magistrate T. Paranjothi who released him on surety bail of Rs. 100,000 after the Navy officer lodged a police complaint saying that he was assaulted.
Thawaseelam was covering a protest meeting organised by relatives of missing persons in Mullativu on April 7 when a commotion broke out between the protestors and an unidentified man in civvies taking photographs of the group. The correspondent had intervened to resolve the matter.
The Sunday Observer learns that Thavaseelam had taken the man to the Gotabaya Navy Camp after he claimed that he was a Navy officer.
When the officials at the Navy camp identified the man as a Navy officer the correspondent left.
Later, he was summoned to the Mullativu police after the Navy officer said that he was assaulted. The case was postponed for April 30.