Boy's cold-blooded killing baffles police

Three killings were reported from different parts of the country making headlines in newspapers last week. Of the three killings two can be attributed to sudden provocation while the third was a premeditated killing, the Police Media Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana told the Sunday Observer. However, the most gruesome killing was reported from Moneragala when a 16-year-old boy was hacked to death while he was fast asleep in the room where his mother slept.

Nobody knows whether the boy was killed due to a mistaken identity or it was done with the purpose of taking revenge from his father who was away that night at his paddy field looking after the crops.

Or was it that the boy suddenly woke up from his deep slumber while his mother was having an intimate relationship with the killer. The boy may have been killed to cover up the illicit affair.

The police have still not found the motive for the killing. On hearing her son screaming the mother had woken up in the wee hours of the morning and found him hacked to death.

She saw the gruesome scene when she lit the lamp in room. Just then the killer had dealt her a blow on her head and escaped. The incident occured on October 8.

The mother who had fled to a neighbour's house following the attack phoned the police.

The neighbours took the injured woman to the base hospital at Moneragala. The police found the body of the 16-year-old boy lying in a pool of blood.

Police said the boy had been hacked to death with a sharp cutting weapon. Neighbours identified the deceased as B.V. Kavun Madusanka.

The mother has been identified as Padma Ranjani, 40, a woman with three children. Both her daughters had been away from home at the time of the incident. Her eldest daughter was employed elsewhere while her other daughter had gone to a relatives house that day.

Police suspect the killer had stealthily entered the house while the inmates were fast asleep and chopped the boy with a sword in the mistaken belief that he was Padma Ranjani's husband.

When she woke up on hearing her son screaming, the killer had dealt a blow on her head and escaped. Padma Ranjani's husband was a key witness in several criminal cases pending before courts against underworld figures in the Moneragala area.

“We are investigating whether a killer of the underworld was hired to kill him, police said. The motive for killing the boy was still not clear as the suspect has not been yet arrested.

Another killing was reported from Panadura last week when a 40-year-old man was stabbed to death while he was talking to two people on the road, police said.

The deceased was identified as Palitha Silva, a driver. The killer plunged a knife into Palitha Silva's belly following a heated argument with him. The killer while trying to pull the knife away from his belly to stab him for the second time found that its blade had got stuck in the belly.

The injured man was admitted to the Panadura base hospital where he died. The police arrested the suspect in a few hours. Panadura Police Crime Branch under the directions of OIC Panadura Chief Inspector Mahesh Perera are investigating.

The third incident was reported from Gampola when a 97-year-old grandfather was chopped to death allegedly by his nephew last week.

The deceased was identified as N. Mohamed, a resident of Gampola.

The suspect is a 21-year-old nephew who had served a jail term for causing grievous hurt to his mother with an axe. He had even caused injuries to his late grandmother by chopping her with an axe. His relatives had lived in fear in the village due to his violent behaviour, police said. The Gampola police arrested the suspect following the killing of his grandfather.

The suspect had chopped the grandfather's head thrice, police said.