Karate Wasantha killing, a warning to Mervyn! 

 

Oct 27, 2015

The killing of Wasantha Wickrama de Soyza alias Karate Wasantha, owner of Panorama night club at Muditha Mawatha, Kada Panaha in Anuradhapura town by a group of armed men on the night of October 24 is also a red light warning to his main patron, former public relations minister Mervyn Silva, say sources close to them.

Alarmed and frightened by the murder, Mervyn summoned his followers to his home yesterday morning (26) and had a long discussion. He told them, to spread that “whatever has happened, Mervyn is OK.’ They are now doing just that. However, Mervyn has decided not even to attend Karate Wasantha’s funeral in view of the risky situation.

Mervyn told his followers that the 57-year-old Karate Wasantha, the of son Alfred de Soyza, a suspect in the notorious Kelettewa murder case, had always tried to conceal details about his father.

It was during the period Mervyn was a minister that Karate Wasantha was given the license and other facilities to start this night club. Karate Wasantha’s friends know that he had paid money to Mervyn every month for that. He had first opened the night club very close to Ruwanweli Seya. Strongly objecting to that, the Mahanayake of the Ruwanweli Maha Seya Vihara summoned Mervyn and asked him to remove the night club immediately. At Mervyn’s request, the night club was shifted to Kada Panaha.

Unconfirmed sources say Karate Wasantha had been murdered on the instructions of a top official in the military by members of the military. It is the result of the repression of a large number of people by Mervyn and Karate Wasantha who had used political powers of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in the past. Mervyn’s son Malaka too, was a close friend of Karate Wasantha. His murder is a red signal warning for Malaka too, say his close ones.