Photo : NewsfirstFormer Sri Lankan state minister and paramilitary leader Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, widely known as Pillayan, has been further remanded until 12 August over a Criminal Investigation Department probe into five killings in Batticaloa in 2008. The order was issued by the Batticaloa Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, after Pillayan was produced before Magistrate A. Darshini via video link. The renewed murder probe also follows fresh scrutiny over other unresolved cases linked to Pillayan and the TMVP. Pillayan was arrested in April 2025 in connection with an abduction and disappearance investigation and has remained in custody since then. Pillayan was arrested in 2015 over the assassination and spent years in remand custody before being released on bail in 2020.