Zahran gave sister Rs.2 mn prior to bombings

National Thawheed Jamaath (NTJ) leader Mohamed Zahran Hashim had reportedly given his sister, Mohamed Cassim Mohamed Niyas Madaniya, a sum of Rs.2 million when he met her on April 12 in Colombo prior to the suicide bombings on Easter Sunday, police investigations had revealed.

Madaniya, who is presently being questioned by investigators at the Batticaloa Headquarters Police station, had revealed this fact.

She had initially denied any connection to Zahran but later admitted that he was her brother.

She said that Zahran had asked her to meet him in Colombo and that she had arrived from Batticaloa by a van just before the Sinhala-Tamil New Year and met him at a luxury hotel in Mt. Lavinia where he had handed over Rs.2 million to her which she was told to use for the activities of the NTJ in Batticaloa.

The suspect woman is now the only one surviving from the family of the main bomber and NTJ leader.

She is to be questioned further by the authorities about NTJ activities in the Island. (Indika Ramanayake and Jawfer Khan)