Florist’s late night tryst with death

It was somewhat of a peaceful week at Kalutara where people were busy making arrangements to commemorate the forthcoming Vesak celebrations. People were so preoccupied erecting pandals and organising Dansalas anticipating large crowds to flock to Kalutara town during Vesak commemoration. Even crime cases reported at the Kalutara police stations hit a rock bottom except for one big case.

The peaceful atmosphere and the tranquillity of the area was shattered when a body was found floating in the Kalu Ganga last week.

People who witnessed the gruesome sight reported the matter to the Kalutara South police station last week. Soon the news was on everybody’s lips that a well-known businessman had been strangled to death. People came to know that Tilekeratne a businessman who lived at Palathota was murdered and his body was dumped in the Kalu Ganga (river).

In fact several persons who live close to the Kalu Ganga had seen the body drifting on the Kalu Ganga. They began to ‘whisper’ that the man had been killed and his body dumped in the Kalu Ganga while others believed that he had drowned himself while bathing. It was on the 14th when the Kalutara South police received a telephone call regarding a body floating in the Kalu Ganga. A police team headed by HQI Kalutara South Police station Chief Inspector Samatha Wedage and OIC Crimes Inspector Pathmakumara and several police officers rushed to Kalu Ganga and retrieved the body with the assistance of the public. \

To their astonishment they found a rope tied around his neck that suggested that he was strangled to death. Police were of the view that the businessman was murdered and his body thrown to the Kalu Ganga by the killers a few days earlier.

In fact the body was bloated and was in a state of decomposition due to being in the water for a few days. Police took charge of the body along with the rope tied around its neck to be subjected for a forensic examination.

The deceased was around 37 years. This was further confirmed by the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of the Panadura hospital who held the post mortem examination.

The JMO Panadura who held the post mortem examination had stated in his report that the victim was strangled to death. Police identified the deceased as Arunda Tilakaratne, a 37-year-old businessman who ran a floral decor shop at Wadduwa.

He also supplied items for customers during wedding ceremonies. The deceased was a resident of Palathota Kalutara.

Following the homicide verdict given by the Magistrate, police began an extensive investigation into the mysterious murder. Who could have killed him and what was the motive behind the killing?

A thought crossed the mind of Chief Inspector Samatha Wedage. But there was no clue whatsoever at sight.

Police began investigating businessman Tilakaratne’s sudden disappearance following a complaint lodged at the Kalutara South police station by his brother long before the body was retrieved from the Kalu Ganga. The neighbours at Palathota also began a frantic search for Tilakaratne on learning about his disappearance. But their efforts were not fruitful at all.

On May 10 Tilakaratne had informed his home people that he was going to Kalutara following a telephone call by someone. His car did not have sufficient fuel to go all the way to Kalutara. Therefore he had borrowed two litres of petrol from someone at home. When he was found missing from home for three days, those at home began to suspect that he was abducted while on his way to Kalutara. Two days later his car was found abandoned in a lonely spot at Thebuwana the adjoining village.

Following the post mortem examination police suspect that a close associate of Tilakaratne had strangled him and then thrown his body into Kalu Ganga. “Most probably they may have thrown him into the river from a spot at Thebuwana” police said.

Following his death people in his village began to gossip about the life he led.

Being a supplier of items for weddings, Tilakaratne was in touch with young women whom he associated closely. So much so that he spent a lot on them, a neighbour said. However others who knew him quite well had a different picture of him altogether.

They were of the view that he hobnobbed mostly with young men and spent lavishly on them. Following his death, rumours began to surface that he has had homosexual trysts with several young men in the village and elsewhere.

He left his Palathota home on the 10th evening to meet someone at Kalutara following a telephone call.

Those at home heard him saying to someone over the phone that he would leave home immediately. That was the last occasion they saw him. Meanwhile on the directions of Senior DIG Western Province K.P.P. Pathirana, and Kalutara Division SSP, Lalith Pathinayake a police team have been detailed by HQI, Kalutara South police station to track down the killers. Police have now begun looking for two young men from Payagala and Wadduwa who could shed enough light on the mysterious death of Tilakaratne.

The two young men had disappeared from their homes and their whereabouts are not known, Police said. Almost seven years ago the “Sun Day Crime” column reported a similar incident where a garment factory Manager named Piyal Fernando who had a homosexual relationship with two young deaf and dumb men was strangled and stabbed to death at Diyawanna Oya.

The men thereafter threw his body to the Diyawannawa lake and drove off in his luxury car worth nearly two million rupees.

When the Welikada police retrieved his body from the lake they found 19 stab wounds on his body. Police later arrested three deaf and dumb suspects from Modera, Mattakkuliya and Wattala areas who confessed committing the crime.