The Gandhi statue at the junction in the Dockyard Road near the sea in Trincomalee is a popular spot for young men to gather in the evening for socializing. On 2 January 2006, many young men were gathered there. Some men who arrived in a three-wheeler threw a grenade at the gatheringof the young men and then went towards the Fort. One St Joseph schoolstudent, Yoharasa Poonkulalan, was injured in this grenade attack.As the other students were getting ready to take the injured student to thehospital, the Sri Lankan Navy that arrived at the spot began shooting at the
students for 10 minutes.The people at the seashore began fleeingin all direction. In the meantime, Sri
Lankan Navy came towards thestudents, ordered them to lie on the
ground and attacked them indiscriminately. Five students died in this attack. Another five students
were seriously injured. This massacre was one of the few of massacres selected by the Sri Lankan Government for special inquiry under the supervision of an international monitoring group of eminent person headed
by an Indian judge. The eminent person left the island in disgust in 2008
after losing confident in the manner in which the investigations were conducted. Sukirtharajan, a journalist with the Tamil daily Sudaroli wrote a full length investigative article about the killing of the five students identifying the SriLankan Army as the culprit. He was shot dead on 6 January 2006.
Names of victims (name, age)
1. Logitharajah Rohan, University Student
2. Manoharan Rajiharan, University Student
3. Shanmugarajah Kajentheran, University Student
4. Thangathurai Sarvanantha, University Student
5. Yogarajah Hemachchandran, University Student