As Sri Lankan cricket fans awaited the upcoming Sri Lanka-West Indies tour, they were instead faced with the shocking news of the killing of Ranjan Silva, father of national cricketer Dhananjaya Silva on Thursday.
While several Police teams have now been deployed in search of the suspects, Police sources say the killing was probably carried out by members of an underworld drug gang operating in the Ratmalana area.
According to Police around 8.30 p.m. on the day, Silva (62), who was also a Councillor of the Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Municipal Council along with two acquaintances were set on by three unidentified people near his residence on Gnanendra Road, Ratmalana.
Facing a hail of bullet fire from a T-56, Silva had attempted to escape, as the gunmen continued to shoot at him. Out of almost 20 bullets fired, Silva had been hit by around 12, the Police said. Despite being rushed to the Colombo South Teaching Hospital, he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The shooting and eventual death of Silva prompted the Police to deploy several investigation teams to nab those responsible.
According to the Special Crimes Investigation Unit of the Mirihana Police Division, one of the main suspects appears to be drug kingpin and underworld figure Gonakovila Anju.
One main reason for him to be named as a suspect was the startling social media post by Anju, but later deleted, following the death of Silva.
According to sources it had read, ‘Relieved of a burden of around 10 years’ referring to a past incident to which Silva was rumoured to have been connected with.
Following the death of his brother Lansiya, a one time prominent underworld figure, killed in an underworld feud with the gang of drug kingpin Gonakovila Roha, sources say, Anju had taken over his brother’s gang while operating in the Dehiwala, Ratmalana and Mount Lavinia areas.
As reliable sources pointed out, Silva had at one point in time befriended the trio. Despite being best of friends at one point, Lansiya along with Anju and Roha became bitter rivals in their bid to take over the drug monopoly in the area resulting in a series of revenge killings between the two gangs.
While the cause for killing Silva, who had no part in the rivalry remains unclear, sources say at one point rumours were rife in the area that Silva had provided protection to Roha following the revenge killing of Anju’s uncle ‘Podi Mahattaya’, by him, in 2007.
As pointed out this could be the possible reference made by Anju on his social media account, as over a decade has now elapsed since the killing of his relative by the rival group.
According to the victims family, the killing could also be a result of Silva’s activism against the rampant drug deals carried out by Anju in the area. Though the whereabouts of Anju remains unknown, the Police say the real motive behind the killing will be revealed when he is finally arrested. - MB
Pix: Rohana de Silva, Rawatawatta group cor.