NZ Police investigate Lankan's death

Police investigating the homicide of a Sri Lankan in a north Canterbury town in New Zealand say he died before the house was deliberately set on fire.

The body of Sameera Chandrasena, 28, was found in the house on Domain Rd, Oxford, on Thursday after neighbours reported the fire about 4am.

A post-mortem revealed he died of injuries consistent with an assault either late on Wednesday or early on Thursday, Detective Inspector Virginia Le Bas told NZ Newswire.

Two Sri Lankan men have been arrested on charges unrelated to the death.

One man has been charged with assault and has been remanded in custody until March 5 and the other man is being detained on immigration matters.Chandrasena knew the men through the Sri Lankan community, Det Insp Le Bas said. Police expect to lay further charges relating to the death and arson.

Det Insp Le Bas did not want to say if the arrested men had been involved in Chandrasena's death or if anyone else might be charged, because the investigation was in the early stages."At this stage I think that we've got a number of inquiries to complete and we need to just consider everything before us before we determine anything and any further charges."