Your worst nightmare

Abductions in the city:

A few months ago people were shocked when they read in newspapers, about recurring disappearances of persons in Colombo. Some newspapers even reported these stories in banner headlines of persons travelling about in a white coloured van as responsible for these abductions.

The fear psychosis spread in Colombo and in suburban areas was so intense that sighting of a white van sent shivers down the spines of people. Meanwhile several cases of abductions were reported to the Kotahena police, in an area where predominantly Tamil speaking people reside.

It was at this stage when the police hierarchy took a serious view of the deteriorating situation and ordered a crack down on killer gangs that roamed in Colombo city. OIC's of Colombo police stations were instructed to apprehend criminals responsible for abductions that painted a grim picture in Colombo.

Meanwhile relentless investigations by CID sleuths finally made a break through when they arrested a former Airforce officer, along with an airman in service and four other policeman responsible for abducting a wealthy Muslim businessman to extort ransom money. While the matter was being investigated the mastermind of the abduction racket fled the country that warranted Interpol being alerted to apprehend the suspect who is on the run.

Meanwhile a string of problems arose for the Kotahena Police, when three cases of abductions were reported during the past few months. The complaints had an enormous social impact especially at a time when newspaper were full of such stories.

Anti social elements too joined the bandwagon of terrorist elements in painting a grim picture of the situation that had befallen the country. Police later found that most people who disappeared from their homes had cooked up a story for various personnel gains.

Soon the story was on everybodys lips that persons were forcibly abducted by people travelling about in white vans. It came to a stage when people were too frightened even to step out of their homes during the night. When people suddenly disappeared from their homes, relatives often cooked up stories and lodged complaints at police stations about abductions without an iota of evidence.

However the Kotahena police stepped in to the action and made a dramatic break through in solving three cases of abductions reported during the past few months. They found the abductions to be hoaxes.

The first case was a couple who disappeared from their home and was later traced at Mattakuliya by the police. They found that it wasn't a case of an abduction but a case of elopement. The second was a sensational case where the disappearance of a businessman was reported from Kotahena.

His wife made a complaint at the Kotahena police that two men travelling in a white van had abducted him. The whole thing turned out to be a hoax when police found the suspect hiding in a house at Mahabage late at night. Investigations revealed that his ploy was to seek permanent residency status in the United Kingdom.

Last week the disappearance of Vigneswaran Manoharan (27) an Electrical Engineering graduate, was reported to Kotahena police. His body was subsequently found buried in a rubber estate at Puwakpitiya Avissawella.

The grisly murder of a young man again stunned the nation. A senior police officer told the Sunday Observer that Manoharan was apparently lured into a trap by two workman who had attended to household repairs at his home at St. Lucia's street at Kotahena.

"This wasn't a case of an abduction but the victim on his own volition had accompanied a workman on the pillion of his motor cycle to Puwakpitiya, Avissawella ten days ago. The workman had promised Manoharan to procure a woman to indulge in sexual activity. At the Puwakpitiya rubber plantation things took a different twist altogether.

The workman armed with a wire suddenly set upon Manoharan and tied the wire around his neck and strangled him to death. Thereafter he buried the body in a lonely spot at the rubber planation before returning to Colombo. A team from the Avissawella police later found the body in a decomposed state.

A few days later the Kotahena police arrested the two workmen who had attended to the repairs at Manoharan's residence. The workman while being questioned had confessed to the police about the murder. The police meanwhile found evidence that the two suspects had telephoned Manoharan's father and demanded a sum of five million as ransom money if he was to find his son.

It all happened twelve days ago when Manoharan accompanied his father to Wellawatte regarding a personnel matter. They had travelled by bus that day. On their way back both the father and the son had alighted from the bus at kotahena. The son had then informed the father that he had to stay behind to make a few telephone calls.

As the son did not return home that evening the father became alarmed and phoned his son's mobile phone. As the mobile phone was switched off he became suspicious that some thing would have happened to the son. He later lodged a complaint at the Kotahena police station.

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