A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Back to 500BC.
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Monday, April 8, 2019
Didn’t police ‘chiefs’ know of Rathgama killings ?
- Buddhika had been questioned by the police on two occasions in connection with the killing of a man
- However following a DNA test he was proved innocent
- Sri Lanka Youth Journalists’ Association complained about this place to the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission
- There had been no responses despite several written submissions to Police Commission
We received information about the killing of two persons after being
abducted from Rathgama while we were engaged in an investigation to
unearth the truth regarding a complaint of an alleged abduction by the
police.
According
to the information two person from Beliatta had been abducted on
January 9 by some people who identified themselves as officers of the
Rotumba Police.
However the authorities of the Rotumba Police refuted the alleged arrest of the two men
Further inquiries revealed that a man known as Buddhika –a suspect of a
heroin case and released on bail–had been arrested on January 7 from
Dampahala, Urubokka area by a group who identified themselves as police
officers.
This man had revealed to the court that he was arrested by the police
for having heroin in his possession, but added that he was only carrying
a parcel given by someone without any knowledge of its contents.
He had pleaded not guilty and was later released on bail. However since
then he had been subjected to frequent harassment by the police. He had
informed the top police officers about the difficulties he was facing.
Buddhika had been questioned by the police on two occasions in
connection with the killing of a man following a shooting incident on
Hulankanda- Dampahala Road in Urubokka, Matara in October last year.
However it was later revealed that the murder was committed by a close
relation of the deceased. He was arrested again on suspicion in
connection with a shooting incident in November in Rotumba and released.
It appears that some police officers tend to arrest and harass the same
suspect of earlier incidents when crimes repeat in respective police
areas.
A
good example for this is a person called Dunesh, who was arrested for
the alleged killing a girl from Kotadeniyawa after raping her, and
being beaten up. During this incident the police revealed to the media
that the suspect had confessed that he had committed the offense.
However following a DNA test he was proved innocent. Similarly Buddhika
had also been the target of the police for different incidents that took
place on different occasions in the area. Buddhika was abducted on
January 7 by a gang that arrived in vehicles while he was at a work
site. A witness had informed the emergency unit of the police about this
abduction. Following the information Beliatta Police was able to trace
the vehicle and order it to stop, but it had proceeded disregarding the
police signal.
Meanwhile Buddhika’s wife had become concerned when her repeated calls
to Budhikka went unanswered. This was because Buddhika had the habit of
contacting the wife frequently. In the morning a businessman from
Rotumba had visited Buddhika’s home and informed that the police had
wanted him to inquire about the whereabouts of Buddhika and added that
the police had told him that they would come in his vehicle to look for
Buddhika.
Then he had left with the police officers from the place where Buddhika
was abducted. This was in search of Buddhika. He mentioned that what he
had said could be verified by viewing the CCTV cameras fixed along the
route they had travelled.
Meanwhile Buddhika’s wife had kept inquiring from the police to find
Buddhika. The law enforcement officers had repeated on several occasions
that they had not taken him into custody. On Thursday she had informed
the Emergency Unit of the Police about the matter. Subsequently a
senior police officer has been assigned to probe the matter. Following
investigations he had also informed that Buddhika was not taken into
custody by Rotumba Police.
Two days had passed without success following the search for Buddhika.
His wife went to the police again to lodge a complaint. Police however
refused to record her complaint. She waited till the OIC had arrived and
this officer then asked the officers, to record her complaint. Yet they
were not willing to take note of her complaint. The woman again went to
the OIC and gave details of her complaint, but it was still not
recorded. When the OIC asked the officers one of them would tell
something to the OIC. He called the Rotumba Police and asked the woman
to meet the Rotumba OIC.
By now it was night and we inquired about the situation from the
Urubokka Police. He then told us that there was no need to record the
complaint by the woman as Rotumba OIC had already said that the missing
man is now in police custody .
Meanwhile Buddhika’s wife, now dissatisfied with the response of Rotumba
police, and taking into consideration her earlier experiences with the
Rotumba police, decided to inform the emergency division of the police.
As a result of not getting any response, she then informed the emergency
unit of the Human Rights Commission.
Ignoring Police warnings
Rotumba Police now understand the gravity of the matter and in the
morning of January 10 produced Buddhika in courts on the charges of
keeping in his garden, weapons used in the murder mentioned earlier.
Buddhika revealed in open court that he was badly beaten at the police
station. But according to the JMO report there was no record of such a
beating having taken place.
Beliatta Police had called the driver of the relevant vehicle, which was
owned by a businessman. We inquired from the Beliatta Police why the
driver who had ignored police warnings and continued to drive was not
taken into custody. The police replied that they had done so because the
vehicle in question was carrying a suspect who was arrested at the
time.
The police had also informed the traffic unit regarding this vehicle.
This incident confirms Buddhika’s arrest on January 9. And this suggests
that the quick responses made by Director Nihal Chadrasiri at the Human
Rights Commission and public relations officer there promptly
answering calls may have helped in saving Buddhika’s life. Otherwise
Buddhika would have suffered the same fate the two businessmen had
recently faced.
I was at the house behind the other house. The van was stopped and parked facing the road. Four men got down from the van armed with weapons. There were 13 members in the gang and all were clad in uniform. They handcuffed Manju and Rasin with a single shackle
All these revelations indicate similar activities having taken place at
the two police stations. However there is a slight change with the
mediation of the HRC. This has helped to save the life of Buddhika who
is now in remand.Unfortunately the Rathgama businessmen weren’t
presented with this opportunity.
The suspects of both Rathgama and Rotumba incidents had been taken into
custody without the knowledge of their families or making them aware of
the reasons behind the arrests. And lack of a procedure make the two
incidents look like abductions.
This is how G. Somadasa (58) father of Manju, who was killed after being
abducted from Rathgama, gives details about the incident.
“It was January 23 and about 09.15 in the morning. We had undertaken to
supply meat for two parties. My son was talking to the mother after
delivering one load of meat to the shop. At the time Rasin had also
come. My wife was at the other daughter’s home when the group of men
came here. They came in a blue KDH van and a car.The car had been parked
at a distant place. Later the car too arrived apparently as the van was
delaying. I was at the house behind the other house. The van was
stopped and parked facing the road. Four men got down from the van armed
with weapons. There were 13 members in the gang and all were clad in
uniform. They handcuffed Manju and Rasin with a single shackle.
Residents told me that the police had taken Manju and Rasin into custody
and they had seen among the group a person in uniform bearing three
stars.
“We went to Rathgama Police to inform about the incident. But they
didn’t record our complaint. A police officer named Bandula told us that
the police would obtain the information about the whereabouts of Manju
by evening and asked us to come after five. We returned and made our
complaint. However the reference number relating to the complaint we
made was not given to us.
“Then we also went to the Galle Police. SP Sathis Gamage called the
Rathgama Police from there, but there was no response” Manju’s father
continued.
“When we were holding the protest on 26th SP Gamage arrived at the scene
and told us that he would find them within a week. We told him that we
had doubts whether they would be alive after a week. Then he assured us
that he would take the responsibility of the lives of these two men. The
week began on February 3. We visited the police again and were told to
have hope that they were alive. We kept on asking for our sons. On
February 5 he told that they were fed up with these two people and added
that they would hand over them to the CID.
“When asked about the reason behind their arrests, he told that if he revealed the reasons it would hamper investigations.
“When asked about the reason behind their arrests, he told that if he revealed the reasons it would hamper investigations.
119 informed
“Early morning on February 4 at about 4 my grandson had seen a few men
in front of our house. We began to shout and made the neighbours aware
of these men. There were only two of them. When the neighbours were
rushing towards our house they ran away. Now we have fixed CCTV cameras.
When we informed about the matter to 119, the officers from the
Rathgama Police arrived, but they couldn’t catch them. After all this
the CID officers came and recorded our statements. We think all these
incidents happened with the knowledge of the police. We came to know
about most of these incidents after receiving an anonymous letter.
Usually we don’t receive letters by post. I think this was the first
letter we have received. The letter came in the name of Samanthi. She is
Manju’s wife. We call her Menika. No one here knows her by the name of
Samanthi.
“There
was the name Rohana in the letter. He is a police officer and we know
him. He visits our meat shop. The original copy of the letter is with
police officer Sathis.
“They had been abducted. When we rang their numbers their phones were
ringing, but later there were silent. My son was in the Army, but he was
later interdicted. He has been running a poultry farm for five years
now” Manju’s father said.
We do not wish to discuss the story of the two men killed in a house in
Akmeemana after being burned. They were abducted. It’s an old story to
most of the readers.
However the point to ponder on is that it had taken one month to confirm the murder of the two men.
The team of officers led by Chief Inspector Ranjith Munasinghe of the
Investigation Division, working under the guidance of Senior DIG of the
CID and Ravi Senevirathna and the Director General SSP Shani Abeysekera,
was able to unearth most of the facts relating to the murder within a
few days. This makes the functions of the relevant two police stations
questionable as they have not been able to find what had happened during
such a long period of time.
They have done nothing on being informed of the missing duo on the day
of the incident. They chose to ignore informing about the missing
individuals to all the police stations and also the process of
collecting of evidences such as examination of relevant telephone calls.
These lapses create reasonable doubts and also fuels the thinking that
there was a probable involvement of a higher ranking police officer in
these incidents.
The police being tight-lipped about this incident until the CID under took the investigation adds to these doubts.
Besides the police had kept trying to convince the relations that the
missing people were living. There is suspicion in the minds of people
that effort was taken by the officers of the Rathgama Police and some
top level officers to conceal the abductions and killings of the two
businessmen by the investigations unit; which functions under the
Southern Province Senior DIG. The prevailing circumstance also induces
the CID to investigate into these matters.
The two victims are said to be suspects of a pending case, but reasons behind their latest arrests were not clear.
It has now been revealed that the house, where the killings took place,
had been occupied by police officers on many previous occasions; leaving
it to fuel further doubts that the place was the venue for other past
killings.
Torture chamber
There was evidence of the existence of a similar torture chamber in
Kotadeniyawa. After the murder of a young girl by the name of Seya, at
least ten villagers were brought to this chamber and tortured while
being questioned.
Sri Lanka Youth Journalists’ Association complained about this place to
the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission and the National Police Commission
offered support providing affidavits, but all these complaints were in
vain. There had been no responses despite several written submissions to
Police Commission.
Had proper actions being taken regarding these complaints similar incidents would not have reoccurred.
Now there are new techniques which can be used during questioning, but
the police seems to prefer using the old methods. Two traffic police
officers had arrived and taken down the telephone number of Manju’s
father after the discovery of the place where the bodies had been
burned. They have said that the numbers would be sent to the police
headquarters. After that he received another call from police
headquarters where the informant had informed that Manju had been
arrested in connection with a drug offence and detained in a far away
place. And the caller had also told him that some money would have to be
spent to bring his son home.
We told him that we had doubts whether they would be alive after a week. Then he assured us that he would take the responsibility of the lives of these two men. The week began on February 3. We visited the police again and were told to have hope that they were alive
The caller had phoned Manju’s father for the second time and asked him
to come to the police headquarters two days after handing over the money
to take his son home.
We were at the place when this call was received. By now the place where
the bodies were burned had been discovered. However the relation did
not reveal details of this telephone call because there was belief that
the son could be saved. The CID must extend its investigations and find
the link between demand made for the ransom and the police. The failure
on the part of the Senior DIG of the province to take proper actions,
when protests were held, and despite the revelation through the media in
this connection, is also questionable. With regard to the killing of an
SI in Kurunegala it was revealed that the suspect had attended a party,
where liquor was served, where top police officer were among the
invitees, before the killing took place. However this suspect was killed
during the process where the weapons hidden were shown.
President Maithripala Sirisena in a recent speech said that the DIG is
responsible in the incident if moonshine is found in the village. Hence
the relevant DIG and the IGP are directly held responsible when a crime
is committed by the investigation unit working under the directive of a
DIG.
The two weeks delay in transferring the DIG and failing to inform about
the transfer to the National Police Commission (NPC) together with the
failure in appointing a DIG to the Southern Province are also matters
that should be investigated into by the NPC.
If a vague policy is adopted regarding these grave matters, crimes of similar gravity can’t be avoided.
(Courtesy Lankadeepa)