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| Sunday, 26 June 2005 |
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Death of Sunday Leader staffer : Mystery unravels Crime Sunday byJaympathy Jayasinghe It is beyond any shadow of doubt that Dinesh Dharmadasa, a lay-out designer of the Sunday Leader Newspaper had died as a result of being assaulted and pushed out of the three-wheeler after a row with the taxi driver at Ganemulla last week. His body was discovered on Wednesday morning lying by the side of Ganemulla road. According to the post-mortem examination held at the Ragama Hospital the victim had suffered fatal head injuries owing to internal haemorrhage. Obviously the victim's head would have struck against a hard object after being pushed out of the taxi. The other plausible theory was that Dinesh was beaten with a blunt weapon. The incident happened soon after the three-wheeler had passed the Ganemulla army camp. According to the three-wheel driver it all started around 10.45 p.m. on Tuesday when his vehicle was parked at the Borella taxi stand. Four men who appeared to be under the influence of liquor had walked up his three-wheeler and had inquired whether he was willing to proceed on a hire to Kadawatte for a sum of Rs. 500. The driver had willingly agreed and all of them had got into the taxi. Dinesh with his three colleagues had drunk at a pub in Borella that evening. Thereafter they decided to travel by taxi as it was late in the evening. Friends of Dinesh say that he was offered employment elsewhere but he had not made up his mind to swap jobs. A native of Udugampola, he was the fourth in the family and was going to tie the nuptial knot next year. On their way to Ganemulle Dinesh had dropped one friend in Fort and two others at Kiribathgoda and at Kadawatte before proceeding towards Ganemulle. His other colleagues had given him an extra Rs.250 before they got off the vehicle. According to police the three-wheel driver had called over at the Ragama police station in the wee hours of Wednesday morning to make a complaint. The driver had related a cock and bull story to deceive the police as if nothing had happened although he had beaten Dinesh and pushed him out of the three-wheeler. The driver knew very well that the police will come after him sooner or later. He told the police that on passing the army camp at Ganemulle, three men had intercepted their vehicle at Polhena-watte and demanded cash and other belongings from them. At this stage Dinesh had got down from the vehicle and had taken to his heels fearing for his life. The driver had even lied that he saw Dinesh running along the road and almost being knocked down by a lorry coming from the opposite direction. Anyway he was not sure whether the lorry had knocked him down. After the three-wheel driver's statement was recorded the policeman referred the matter to the Officer in Charge (OIC) Crime, Ragama Police, Sub Inspector A.G.D.B. Wijeratne. The OIC studied the case well and knew that the driver was lying. Someone told him that he had cooked up a story to cover up a tissue of lies. S.I. Wijeratne further grilled the three-wheel driver to get to the bottom of the story. He cautioned the driver that a simple DNA test could prove what took place that day. This jostled the driver and he confessed to the Inspector what took place that day. He told him that after passing the Ganemulle army camp he demanded more cash from Dinesh to be dropped off at his Udugampola residence. At this stage there was a heated argument and they exchanged blows. When Dinesh fell to the ground he had dragged him to a side of the road and had driven away. According to sources policemen had stopped the same three-wheeler at Kiribathgoda that night and had found that the driver was not in the possession of his revenue licence. Thereafter they had issued him with a traffic ticket and let him go. This probably may have enraged the driver to demand more money from the passenger. The suspect driver was produced before the Gampaha Magistrate and remanded till July 6. OIC Wijeratne said that he would request a DNA testing from courts. |
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