Marine Drive killers still at large
On a sultry afternoon a large crowd gathered around a car parked near
a restaurant on the Marine Drive at Bambalapitiya last Sunday. The time
was about 1.30.p.m. Curious onlookers peering into the car were stunned
when they saw a well-dressed man lying in a pool of blood in the front
seat. There was a gaping wound on his neck. The killer had slashed his
throat and run away leaving the man to bleed in the car.
Police said a boy had informed a hotel employee that he had seen a
man running away from the car. The boy had seen the dead body in the
car. The hotel employee too had seen a man slumped on the front seat in
a pool of blood. He had then informed the police emergency about the
incident. SSP Colombo South Premalal Ranagala and ASP Ratnayake of the
Colombo Crime Division (CCD) rushed to the scene and commenced
investigations. A few minutes later policemen from the SOCO (Scene of
the Crimes Operatives), and police fingerprint experts and a sniffer dog
arrived at the scene.
Stabbed
“Probably he had been stabbed a few minutes ago. We found five
fingerprint marks on the car and we suspect that three men would have
been involved in the killing. When the police arrived at the scene they
found the signal lights of the car still flashing.
 “We are trying to figure out the motive for the killing. We are
examining all possible clues to arrive at a decision soon,” a senior
police officer said.The victim has been identified as Ranjith de Costa,
a manager of a freight forwarding company in Colombo. He is a resident
of Polhengoda, Narahenpita. The victim's wife Mrs. Soysa too identified
the body of her husband. She told the police that her husband left home
early in the morning as he was due to deliver a lecture at an institute
in Colombo and later invigilate an examination conducted by a shipping
institute in Kollupitiya. She told the police that her husband was not
indebted to anyone and had no enemies as far as she knew. The police
questioned an official at the shipping institute in Kollupitiya where he
had invigilated an examination and learnt that he had left the premises
around 1.05 p.m. after handing over the answer scripts. He said he was
unaware of his movements.
Lift
According to the police, Costa had arrived at the Bambalapitiya
Marine Drive around 1.20.p.m. According to Colombo Crime Division (CCD)
sources, Costa had been killed between 1-05 p.m. and 1.20.pm. probably
by three men who boarded his car at the Bambalapitiya Marine Drive. “He
may have offered a lift to them between Kollupitiya and Bambalapitiya or
it may be that his car was intercepted at some point and the killers had
got in forcibly. There would have been a heated argument between Costa
and his killers,” police said.
Sleuths are investigating whether Costa had any rivals in his freight
forwarding business and contract killers were assigned for the job.
Statements of several people have been recorded and the fingerprint
experts are busy studying the prints found at the scene of the crime.
It is still not clear why he chose to go on the Marine Drive.
Mrs. Soysa, the chief pharmacist of a government hospital told the
police that her husband never called her after leaving home.
The Colombo Crime Division(CCD) Director, SSP, D.R.L. Ranaweera has
detailed a special team to investigate the killing.
The sniffer dogs having picked up the scent went up to the
Bambalapitiya railway station. The killers probably escaped after
boarding a train, the police said.
The victim had been a strict disciplinarian at his workplace and at
the institution where he delivered lectures on shipping. |
