Mystery of the murdered maiden
 

Sunday Crime by Jayampathy Jayasinghe

Who were the brutal assassins who were supposed to have raped her and dumped her body in a paddy field? If several persons had raped her and throttled her before dumping her body, a DNA test would surely reveal who the culprits were. Was the death due to asphyxia or due to any other cause?

The Mirigama police have launched an investigation to ascertain the cause of death and apprehend the culprits. However mystery seems to shroud the death of Nishanthi Buddika and the police are yet to arrest the culprits.

Nishanthi Buddika (26) was an attractive young, unmarried woman who was the apple of her mother's eye. Although an adult being unmarried, it was customary for her to live with her mother at their home at Purana Mirigama. Nishanthi's mother was very protective of her.

She walked every evening to the Wilwatte railway station to pick her daughter up. Her home was about 100 metres away from the railway station. Nishanthi Buddika too loved her mother and was attached to her. Nishanthi usually returned home around 6.30.by train. According to Mirigama police she worked in an employment agency in Colombo.

It was on November 3, when Nishanthi's mother as usual went to the Wilwatte railway station around 5.30 p.m. to pick her daughter up. It had rained that evening and the day looked gloomy. Darkness soon enveloped the area and it was pitch dark all over.

The street lights were not on and visibility was poor due to an electricity failure. Nishanthi's mother had taken shelter in a boutique near the Wilwatte railway station as it continued to rain. But to her astonishment Nishanthi had not come by the 6.30 p.m. train. So she was forced to hang around near the boutique till 9.p.m. hoping that her daughter would arrive in a late train. But the glimmer of hope was snuffed out from her when her daughter did not return home that night. Due to pitch darkness in the area she was not able to recognise any one at close quarters.

So she hurriedly went home and discovered that her daughter was missing. She had a premonition that something would have happened to her daughter. Alarmed by the fact that she was missing from home, she immediately phoned Nishanthi's fiancee and explained to him about her daughter's absence.

Later when he turned up at home he decided to look for her along with Nishanthi's younger brother. Together they went out of the house in the darkeses armed with a flash light. They searched high and low for Nishanthi near the railway station but could not find her.

Later they went along a footpath near Nishanthi's home that leads to a paddyfield and then to a threshing (Kamatha) field. When they flashed their torches they could only spot a bullock cart in the centre of the threshing field. But when they flashed their torches under the bullock cart they found the naked body of Nishanthi. She was dead by the time they found her body.

For a moment they could not believe their own eyes. But they summoned enough courage to go back home and relate what they had seen under the bullock cart to her mother. Her mother simply burst into tears and had to be consoled.

Thereafter they got in touch with Nishanthi's married sister and the Mirigama police was informed. On the following day the Attanagale Magistrate visited the scene of murder and ordered the police to apprehend the culprits. Mirigama Police said they were awaiting a report from the Government Analyst Department to ascertain the cause of her death. Sources said Nishanthi was to be married next month.

Police said the motive for the gruesome murder is being investigated.

Further investigations are being made by OIC Mirigama Chief Inspector W. Bandara, Inspector D. Thilanga, Inspector Millawithanchchi, Police Sergeant 27454 Sujeewa and PS, 22466 Kularatne.