Deputy Director recalls chilling experience

By Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

Despite holding a high rank in the Archaeological Department as a Deputy Director (Planning), he shunned ostentation. He was a simple down-to-earth man who preferred commuting to work daily by public transport. He was also a well-known in his neighbourhood at Kadawata-Ragama.

As usual one day, he left his Kadawata residence on September 1, to reach his office at Marcus Fernando Road, Colombo 7. He had a busy schedule that day in office. He hurried to the bus halt from where he could catch a bus proceeding to the Kandy Road. The bus halt was a little distance away from his home. While at the bus halt, he saw a strange woman clad in a saree a few feet away from him but he could not remember having seen her before at the bus halt. A car pulled up alongside and while she boarded the car she deliberately dropped her mobile phone.

The Deputy Director who saw the mobile phone on the ground quickly gestured to her about it. When she peeped out of the car she saw her mobile phone. She thanked him profusely and inquired whether he needed a lift as she was going towards the Kandy-Colombo Road. He thanked her and got in. While in the rear seat he noticed the driver was a young person. The woman was the only passenger. He knew neither of them nor had he seen them before.

The couple dropped him on the Kandy Road and after exchanging pleasantries went their way. The following day too, the Deputy Director left his home as usual in the morning for work. When he arrived at the bus halt he saw the same women whom he had met the previous day. They greeted each other and chatted for a while. The woman told him that she was waiting for her friend, in a short while and inquired whether he needed a lift to the Kandy-Colombo Road. He humbly acknowledged her kind gesture. A short while later the car turned up and both of them boarded. The car proceeded to the Kandy-Colombo Road where he was dropped.

A strange man

On the third day too, the Deputy Director left his home as usual and arrived at the bus halt in the hope that he could get a lift. But he was sad when he found that the woman failed to turn up. However, in a short while the car that picked him the previous day turned up and the driver inquired whether he needed a lift. He consented and boarded the car little knowing what was in store for him. He observed that besides the driver there was a stranger seated alongside in the front seat. He was a smart young man whom he had not seen before.

While proceeding to the Kandy-Colombo Road, the young man brandished a pistol suddenly and held it against the Deputy Director's head. He threatened to shoot him and ordered him to keep calm.

The gunman then ordered him to lie on the back seat and drove to Athurugiriya instead of dropping him at the Kandy-Colombo Road. The gunman blind-folded the Deputy Director and led him to a safe house at Athurugiriya. He was put into a room where he was chained. "The two men had rented the premises at Athurugiriya to keep hostages and for other nefarious activities", police sources said.

Nobody in the Archaeological Department, nor his family or any other person had known what had befallen him that day.

This was a pre-planned operation executed by two ruthless young men. However, when the Deputy Director failed to return home that evening his wife and children were perturbed. The same evening his wife lodged a complaint at the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) following her husband's mysterious disappearance later in the evening. His abductors demanded Rs. 4.5 million for his release. They told her in no uncertain terms to sell the Deputy Director's new car and hand over Rs. 4.5 million for his release. According to the police the car had been purchased on a permit issued to public servants.

The gang had also threatened to kill him if the cash was not handed over to them in time. On the instructions of the DIG Crimes, Anura Senanayake, the Director Colombo Crime Division (CCD) Superintendent of Police D.R.L. Ranaweera, was entrusted with the task of probing the abduction. On his instructions OIC (CCD) Chief Inspector Hemantha, IP Kularatne, SI Tibbatuwawa and other police officers were assigned to arrest the abductors. Following the abduction a manhunt was launched to arrest the gang.

Ransom demands

That particular night, the Deputy Director's family received several ransom demands from the gang for his release. However, CCD men moved in quickly to the residence of the Deputy Director and evacuated his family to a house close by. Several CCD men and women acting under cover took the house. Soon they began communicating with the abductors with regard to the ransom money they had demanded. But the gang members unrelented and did not want to bargain with the sum demanded. They insisted on the Rs. 4.5 million.

While the abductors had been communicating with the undercover CCD officers, the telephone booths from which the calls originated were identified. Sleuths found that the telephone booths were at Welikada and Athurugiriya. The following day several undercover CCD men launched a surveillance campaign to identify the abductors. They took up positions near five telephone booths from where the callers had spoken the previous day. Police, however, suspected two men who turned up at one booth. They followed them to Athurugiriya but did not arrest them.

Two green toy plastic pistols and a genuine pistol.

However, the abductors got wind of the policemen trailing them. This generated a sense of panic. Their instant reaction was to release the man who was still holed up at Athurugiriya before an encounter with the police. They released him at Athurugiriya where they dumped him in a shrub jungle. Thereafter, the Deputy Director found his way home and related the chilling experience to his wife and two children. Later he explained the whole episode to the police where they recorded a detailed statement from him. He was fortunate the abductors had not caused him any physical harm while in captivity. But the psychological trauma he underwent was unbearable, he told the police. Prior to his release the gang stole his credit card, and other personal belongings.

Gang traced

The sleuths eventually traced the two-member gang at their homes at Miriswatta and Welikada. Police also recovered a T-56 rifle and 31 rounds of ammunition, two cartridges, four plastic pistols, eight mobile phones, six identity cards, one driving licence, an identical police uniform, one pair of binoculars, a mask, three sets of gloves, a set of dentures in their possession. The T-56 weapon was concealed in a large Buddha statue and parts of it were hidden in a large guitar as well at the residence of the main suspect at Welikada. Police sources said the T-56 weapon was stolen from soldiers manning a checkpoint at Koswatta-Talangama on January 16. It had been stolen by the two-member gang who abducted the Deputy Director.

After stopping their vehicle at the checkpoint, the two-member gang showered praise on the soldiers for their gallantry in eradicating terrorism and inquired whether they were in need of tea. When the soldiers consented, two cups of drugged tea were given.

The soldiers fell unconscious after drinking the tea. Thereafter, the gang stole a T-56 weapon from one of the soldiers and disappeared from the scene. The two soldiers later lodged a complaint at the Talangama police station about the missing T-56 weapon.

According to police sources the main suspect, in the abduction of the Deputy Director was a third year university student of Sri Jayawardenapura University. He had built a statue at a temple close to the residence of the Deputy Director, some time ago. The suspect is married to a graduate teacher of a leading school in Colombo. Further investigations are being conducted by Director, Colombo Crime Division (CCD) SP, D.R.L. Ranaweera and OIC CCD, Chief Inspector Hemantha.