By Skandha Gunasekara and Chetan Perara The origin of the Mannar mass grave and the identities of the bodies found within have been shrouded in mystery as the Mannar Magistrate clamped down on revealing the details of the radiocarbon dating report on the skeletal remains. Chief Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) and Investigation Officer Dr. Saminda Rajapaksa told The Sunday Morning that he could not comment on the contents of the report until the Mannar Magistrate allows him to proceed to it. He claimed that he and the Mannar Magistrate Court had each received copies of the report of five skeletal samples sent to Beta Analytic Testing Laboratory based in Florida, US. “We received reports of five of the six samples we sent to the US laboratory. But the Mannar Magistrate debarred us from revealing any details of the reports to anyone including the media until the court takes sufficient time to examine the reports and come to a decision. Once the court decides on when to divulge the information, we will make a public statement,” he said. Awaiting final lab report The reports were received by Sri Lankan officials on Wednesday (20). However, Dr. Rajapaksa said that there has been a delay in the testing of the final sample and that they were still awaiting the report of the sixth sample sent to Beta Analytic Laboratory. “The condition of the bone samples could possibly make it hard to extract the collagen within. The collagen is what is used to carry out the radiocarbon testing to ascertain how old the bones are,” Dr. Rajapaksa explained. He said that within the next few days, the testing of the final sample would be completed. “I’m keeping contact with the Beta Analytic Laboratory and they will inform as soon as the testing of the final sample is concluded. It should be done within the next few days and we should receive the report soon thereafter,” he said, adding that the copies of the report would be sent to him as well as the Mannar Magistrate Courts as with the previous reports. The excavation site entered its 148th day on Thursday (21), according to Dr. Rajapaksa. He noted that 323 individual skeletal remains were uncovered thus far and 315 of them have been detached from the site. Accordingly, among the uncovered remains, 28 skeletal remains are discovered to be of children. Furthermore, Dr. Rajapaksa said that there were more skeletal remains in the grave to be unearthed and therefore the excavation process would continue. Meanwhile, the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) in a statement said that they were informed that once the reports of the radiocarbon dating for all six samples were submitted to the Mannar Magistrate Court’s official record, the contents of the report would be legally binding facts. “The reports of tests done on the six skeletal samples found in the Mannar mass grave were received by Chief Judicial Medical Officer Saminda Rajapaksa. The tests were conducted by Beta Analytic Laboratory for carbon dating. However, one of the DNA samples was said to be analysed insufficiently due to limited genetic material. Therefore, the release of the findings has been delayed. “The findings of the reports on the other five remains will be released after the final sample is tested again by the Beta Analytic Laboratory, after which, all six samples will be part of the Mannar Magistrate Court’s official record, making the report legally binding facts,” the OMP said. A twisting account of history Bringing in new facts to the picture and reshaping perspective, military sources, giving details of the history of the location where the mass grave was found, informed The Sunday Morning that the location had initially been a common cemetery between 1944 and 1970. From 1970 to 1971, the site had then become a resting place for local anglers. Thereafter, from 1971 to 1990, a grocery and common goods store known as the “Marketing Department” had been set up. In 1991, after the closure of the store due to lack of profits, the People’s Bank branch located in Sinnakadai, Mannar was shifted to where the Marketing Department store was situated. In 2010, the People’s Bank branch was once again relocated to the Uppakulam region and in 2011 the Sathosa retail complex was opened, military sources revealed. Fast forwarding to 25 March, 2018, the skeletal remains were found during the construction process of a new Sathosa building, after some construction workers stumbled on them while operating heavy machinery. The court had then ordered a proper investigation into the site. Investigations commenced in May with the intervention of the Mannar Police and the site was cordoned off from the public by the Scene of Crime Officer of Vavuniya Police. Consultant Judicial Medical Officer Dr. Saminda Rajapaksa was called in and, after a prolonged analysis, determined that the skeletal remains and bone fragments were in fact human. Mannar Magistrate ordered the site to be secured and called for an official excavation to be commenced, which started on 28 May last year. Truth in the balance University of Kelaniya Chief Forensic Archaeologist Prof. Raj Somadeva was summoned for his expert assistance and he began work on the site on 29 May. With the current number of bodies found exceeding 300, the grave is at present the largest mass grave in Sri Lanka. The fact that the site also contains the remains of several children and body parts bound with metal has resulted in speculations that this was a community that was killed and buried, and that torture may have been involved. Prof. Somadeva told The Sunday Morning on an earlier occasion that the graves are chaotic in their distribution of bodies with two separate segments: the first segment being a formal burial whereas the second appears more like informal deposits of remains. Sources have not yet been able to confirm who conducted the killings, with parties from both sides denying and defusing blame to the other. But, several families with disappeared relatives claimed that their sons may have been buried in those graves. The custody of the remains has been transferred to the local courts in Mannar, with all evidence said to be within a chamber in the Mannar Court Complex. Mannar and the site of the grave came back into military control approximately 10 years ago. The Sri Lankan Government continues to deny any involvement with disappearances and mass graves.