One letter stated:[9][10]We shot your five sons because they are supporters of the Tigers who are attempting to link our Eastern Province with the North.

All Tigers, Tiger supporters and besides Tamil loyalists (pattalarkal) will soon be evicted or killed...This is our sole kingdom, our earth...Meka ape rata, Sinhala rata (This is our kingdom, a Sinhalese kingdom)...According to the UTHR(J), the letters came from within the security forces and implied the agenda of "Sinhalisation of the East", reflecting the growing dominance of Sinhalese extremists in the Defence Ministry since the Rajapaksa government assumed power.

[9] The government claims were contradicted by the results of the local coroner, who said that they were killed by gunshot wound in execution style.

[2] Although a court case is still pending, a Human Rights agency known as UTHR accused that a local police superintendent as the mastermind of the operation to kill the students.

[11][12] According to RSF a minority Tamil journalist Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan who took pictures of the slain students that proved that they died of gunshot injuries not by an explosion of a grenade as claimed by local military authorities was shot dead by unknown gunmen suspected to be paramilitary men.

[13] A Tamil three-wheeler driver who had been an eyewitness to the murders was also killed by unknown persons before he could testify in a trial.