The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) last week cracked Sri Lanka’s first ‘white van’ abduction case since January 2015 and arrested the police unit responsible for the crime, all within seven days, even as the nation reeled from the gruesome abduction and murder of two businessmen in Galle who went missing late last month.
Bone and hair fragments believed to be of the assassinated businessmen have been sent for DNA testing as the CID is unravelling startling information on the case.
Eight police officers, including Southern Province Special Crimes Investigation Unit’s (SPCIU) IP Kapila Nishantha Silva, were identified as key suspects of the crime. The IP is currently in remand over the incident and Senior DIG Southern Range Ravi Wijegunewardene has been transferred to Police Headquarters.
 The magisterial inquiry in progress. |
Thirty-three-year-old Manjula Asela (a father of three), and 31-year-old Rasheen Chinthaka (a father of one with his wife pregnant with the second child), residents of Rathna-Udagama, Boossa were abducted on January 23 at around 10.30 a.m.
The victims were assaulted and killed the same day; later their bodies were burnt in a bid to destroy all evidence, investigators found.
Asela and Chinthaka were abducted by a group of police officers for questioning regarding an illegal arms racket they were suspected to be a part of. Their families pushed the police for answers, from the day Asela and Chinthaka were forcefully taken away, but to no avail till they were tipped-off through a handwritten letter sent by a group of police officers.
“After my husband (Asela) and Chinthaka aiya were handcuffed and taken by the police, we immediately went to the Rathgama police. They refused to record our complaint. We then went to the Galle police,” Asela’s wife M. Samanthi said.
Galle police have also turned the worried wife and kin away. At around 7.00 p.m. when they returned to the Rathgama police station their complaint was finally recorded.
The first protest demanding the return of the businessmen duo was organised on January 26. Later they were assured by the Galle police that the files of the missing businessmen will be handed over to the CID.
“We were happy when they said that, because it meant our husbands were alive,” said Chinthaka’s wife Deepani Priyanka. Then, on February 6, Samanthi received the letter.
It stated, they (Asela and Chinthaka) were taken by a team led by OIC, CI Saman Rohana and IP Kapila Nishantha Silva and assaulted.
“One of them died during the attack. The other saw it happen. Because of that he was also killed. Their bodies were also burnt,” the letter stated. It also advised the readers not to show the letter to anyone and to inform the President or a responsible person of its contents. The DIG in charge of the Southern Province is attempting to bury the incident, it warned.
“Whoever it is we do not acknowledge murders,” the letter concluded.
Copies of the letter were sent to the police unit which entertains public complaints and the CID and the CID commenced its investigation. Arrested sub-inspector, a novice at the SPCIU, Viraj Madushanka has told the CID how the murder happened. He was taken into custody on Thursday (21) and remanded till Wednesday (27).
Thirteen officers attached to the SPCIU are believed to have carried out the abduction. The black van used for the crime belonged to a friend of IP Nishantha. The victims were first taken to this friend’s house and later taken to an abandoned house in Gonamulla in Akmeemana.
At this house the businessmen were tortured in a bid to recover a fire-arm. The assault has continued despite the duo asserting that they were not aware of the firearm in question. Chinthaka succumbed to his injuries during this interrogation.
Asela was killed to cover up the initial murder. The double murder had taken place within two to three hours of the abduction.
The bodies were then transported to the Pallekanda Forest Reserve in Walasmulla on January 23 night and set on fire using diesel. The murderers have remained in the forest reserve for about four hours till the bodies were completely burnt. CID found skeletal and hair remains of the two businessmen on Friday (22). The place the bodies were burnt was examined by the Galle Magistrate.
The National Police Commission has called for a report on the police officers involved in the doublemurder.
According to Police Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekera 17 police officers, including the OIC of the special investigations unit and a chief inspector, were transferred from the Southern Province to the Western Province under the orders by the IGP.
On Friday (22) a protest was launched in Ratgama by the relatives of the deceased and residents of the area condemning the murders.