Horrifying murder in Rajagiriya

The horrifying murder was committed at his home in Rajagiriya when an hired assassin hiding behind a curtain inside a room in his upstair house set upon Raja Ananda Edirisinghe (65) whilst entering the room and beat him savagely on the head with an iron pole while the other man stabbed him several times on the body until he fell unconscious on the floor.

The murder happened on November, 17 around 6.45 am. Edirisinghe as usual had woken up early and was strolling out side his home. In fact he had casually spoken to a known policeman just outside his home.

A little while later the man who lives in the upstair room approached him and told that a glass window of his room had been shattered. Edirisinghe had then accompanied him upstairs to inspect the damage not knowing that an assassin was waiting for his arrival.

At that point of time Edirisinghe’s wife preparing tea for her husband in the pantry down stairs . She heard the commotion up stairs and wanted to go there immediately to find out what had happened.

Just then the man who lives upstairs came down to the pantry. He discouraged her from going upstairs by suggesting that her husband was taking a bath. Having said that he gulped down a cup of tea and left the house in a hurry. But he never returned home thereafter.

Mrs. Edirisinghe apparently sensing something serious had happened rushed upstairs. She found her husband lying comatose in a pool of blood. Still he was grasping for breath every now and then.

She yelled and screamed for help when she spotted the assassin in the room. But there weren’t any help forthcoming from any quarter. Everything happened in a flash and even the neighbours did not suspect foul play. The assassin too bolted away on seeing Mrs. Edirisinghe. He escaped by scaling over the parapet wall and then vanished.

The Police Media Spokesman SSP Ranjith Gunesekera said the murder was a premedicated one which was executed carefully. He said the motive for the murder is still unclear as both suspects are evading arrest. “Until we arrest and interrogate them we do not know their motive, Two police teams have been deployed to arrest the suspects,” SSP Gunesekera said.

According to Mrs. Edirisinghe’s brother-in-law, she was in a state of shock when she spotted her husband lying in a pool of blood with his head bashed and with stab wounds on his body. He succumbed to his injuries before he was despatched to a hospital.

She was scared than ever before after realising the killer was in her own home. He was none other than the man who occupied the upstair room in her home. The man who was groomed by her husband to become a small time successful businessman. He had been with him for nearly a decade. Edirisinghe had brought the young man to his home when he was about 18 years old.

Although the suspect was supposed to be a native from Kegalle, he had furnished a different address at Homagama to the police earlier. But as fate decreed, the man ultimately turned out to be his ruthless killer.

However police suspect the killing was over money and property matters which Edirisinghe had entrusted him. The murder of Raja Ananda Edirisinghe (65) shocked everyone who knew him well. He was a wealthy businessman and the proprietor of the Lanka Pharmacy in the Welikade-Rajagiriya area. The breadth of his popularity was evident by those visited his home to pay their last respects.

The murder happened in a strange manner that no one imagined. After all he had lived with his family in that house for several years. Both his daughters now live in Australia said their uncle Ranjith Edirisinghe, a well-known veteran and a popular television and radio personality. The deceased was his elder brother.

Apart from the Lanka Pharmacy Raja Edirisinghe owned several other business at Nugegoda as well. He lived in a spacious house at Rajagiriya with his wife. The room upstairs was occupied by his most trusted lieutenant who ran some of his business enterprises. He had immense faith in the young man from Kegalle. Edirisinghe groomed him to become a successful businessman in less than a decade.

Edirisinghe trusted him wholeheartedly. The young man was entrusted with a Take -Away food parlour that brought profits to Edirisinghe.

His boss was so impressed by his performance that he was put in charge of a shoe shop on the second floor of the Nugegoda Supermarket. He ran the business smoothly to the satisfaction of his boss.

The boss was so impressed by his performance, that he brought him a Daihatsu vehicle worth more than Rs 30 lakhs.

The boss sold the shoe shop at the Nugegoda Supermarket and later set up another shop named Malitha close to the Police Guard room at Nugegoda. According to family sources, Edirisinghe had queried from the young man about accounts relating to his shoe shop. He had even hinted of selling his shoe shop to settle a bank overdraft of Rs 3.5 lakh. However the young man had shown resentment to the proposal and had been at loggerheads ever since.

Propensity for violence in the Nugegoda police division have increased during the past few years.

Three months ago a wealthy businessman was strangled to death at Pannipitiya while trying to board his vehicle. Police arrested two service deserters who committed the crime.

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