Subramanium Ramachandran, a correspondent for the Tamil-language dailies Yarl Thinakkural and Valampure, was traveling home with his friend on February 15, 2007, when a group of soldiers stopped the two outside an army camp in the Vadamarachchi region of northern Jaffna district, according to Ramachandran's sister, Kamalashini Jeyaradram.
The soldiers surrounded the journalist for questioning, took him into the camp, and ordered his friend to leave, Jeyaradram told CPJ, adding that she repeatedly called her brother that night and that he had initially said that he was being interrogated and would come home soon.
Another witness later informed Ramachandran’s family that soldiers forced the journalist into a military vehicle and drove away later that night, Jeyaradram said. The journalist’s family called him repeatedly without answer until 2012, when the phone company changed the user.
Ramachandran, who was 37 years old at the time of his disappearance, reported on alleged human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan military and paramilitary groups during the country’s 26-year civil war between the government and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which ended in 2009.
Around one month before his disappearance, Ramachandran published an article in Yarl Thinakkural implicating a businessman and military officers in alleged illegal sand trade. Following the article’s publication, a judge ordered the confiscation of a vehicle reportedly used in the trading, and the LTTE torched another vehicle allegedly used by the traffickers.
Jeyaradram said that two witnesses separately claimed to have seen the journalist in army camps in Colombo and Jaffna districts in 2009 and 2013, respectively.
Complaints filed by the journalist’s family with the local police and the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Complaints of Abductions and Disappearances did not yield substantive results, Jeyaradram said, adding that her family was still looking for Ramachandran as of early 2025.
Sri Lanka media minister Nalinda Jayatissa did not respond to CPJ’s calls and text messages in early 2025 requesting comment on whether the recently elected government would pursue justice for Ramachandran.