Sampath Lakmal Silva:

A double agent?

Sunday Crime by Jayampathy Jayasinghe

It was around 9.10 p.m. last Sunday, when freelance press and television journalist Sampath Lakmal Silva received two calls on his cellular phone while at home from someone who knew him well.

While he answered the call his mother too who was present on the occasion overheard a name being mentioned by her son. Sampath Lakmal was in a mighty hurry to leave home after the telephone call.

So he had a hurried dinner and left home around 10.30. p.m. telling his mother that he had something big to attend to. But he did not reveal the specific nature of the job and left home in a hurry. A little later the home telephone rang twice and stopped before his mother answered.

Intuition

Her intuition was that some thing dreadful was going to happen to her son. So she rang up the two cellular phones that he carried with him but there wasn't any answer. She became quite alarmed and informed her younger daughter about it. It was not until the next day morning when the Dehiwela police informed her that her son had been killed, that she had any news of him.

Sampath Lakmal was a young freelance journalist who specialised in writing on defence matters. He was a prolific writer who contributed articles on defence matters to several popular tabloids and newspapers. He also worked for several Television channels in Colombo. He stayed with his mother at her residence at Boraleasgamuwa in Werahera.

According to police it is not clear how Sampath Lakmal left his home at Boralasgamuwa that night. Was he picked up outside his home by the person who called him earlier that night or did he travel on his own in a three wheeler all the way to Jayawardena place in Dehiwela. Or was Sampath Lakmal picked up from another spot ? How come that his body was found at Jayawardena place Dehiwela.

Did some one shoot him there or was his body brought and dumped there. The question is why Jayawardena place Dehiwela of all places? Obviously the killers seem to be familiar with the geography of the area.

It was in the wee hours of the morning that some one spotted Sampath Lakmal's body found sprawled on the road at Jayawardenapra Dehiwela in a pool of blood. He alerted the Police Emergency number 119. They later alerted the Dehiwela Police to investigate the case.

OIC Dehiwela Police, Chief Inspector Kotachchi and OIC Crimes visited Jayawardena Place Dehiwela on being informed of the murder and found the body of freelance journalist, Sampath Lakmal Silva. They also recovered a Mobitell cellular phone in his possession which they believe would shed light on the mysterious murder. Police are now investigating the telephone numbers found on the cellular phone of Sampath Lakmal.

Reports

Who killed Sampath Lakmal Silva? What was the motive behind the killing? Numerous reports published in the media suggest that his dealings with the LTTE ultimately led to his demise. That he fed vital LTTE information to government intelligence services. There were also contrary reports to suggest that he acted as a double agent and passed vital information to the LTTE. Whatever it is, the police do not seem to know at this stage the exact cause or the motive for his killing. No one had been arrested so far, police said.

OIC Crimes Dehiwela S.M. Liyanagama said that journalist Sampath Lakmal was shot thrice on the head and one to his body with a 9mm pistol. Police found four 9mm spent bullet casings on the ground. The IGP Chandra Fernando addressing a media briefing in Colombo said that investigations are in progress and that he was not in a position to reveal anything that would jeopardise investigations.

Meanwhile IGP Chandra Fernando commenting on the woman suicide bomber who blew herself at Army Headquarters at Galle Face last May said that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had identified the suicide bomber as one Kanapathipillai Manjula Devi, a native of Anuradhapura.

The woman suicide cadre was first brought to a house at Rambukkana and later taken to a safe house at Welliweriya by a LTTE cadre. The house had been purchased on a lease agreement by the LTTE cadre. The LTTE cadre had also provided a three wheeler taxi for her to get about.

Later she was again taken to Rambukkana by the LLTE cadre. Manjula Devi had initially studied in Anuradhapura but was later taken to Jaffna by her husband. Two other persons who assisted the woman suicide cadre had been taken into custody. DIG (CID) Asoka Wijetilleke said they are probing as to how the woman suicide cadre was able to penetrate the Army Headquarters. "We are also investigating how she became a suicide cadre", he said.