Thugs snuff out senior planter's life

He stood firm against corruption:

By Ranil Wijayapala

July 5, 2013 might have been yet another challenging date for Nihal Perera a senior planter who assumed duties as the Superintendent of the Noori Estate Deraniyagala in January, in his effort to make this well renowned estate, go against the corruption and wastage influenced by the interference of local politicians reining in the area. As a very senior planter, 69-year-old Nihal Perera from Rathmalana was never a character who relented to pressures of any person who stood in his way as he always tried to be a professional planter rather than becoming a person to appease the people to get things done. So obstacles were not unusual in his professional life but he always tackled them through professionalism.

It was his desire to be with plantations, touching the fresh tea leaves and fresh soil which became his life, led him to work there at Noori Estate itself although his employers offered him to be at their Colombo office and oversee the administration of the Estate. His professionalism never allowed to do so and he wanted to tackle things on the ground itself.

Therefore, it did not take much time for him to face a challenging situation there at the Noori Estate as he was not willing to appease the thugs who demanded ransom from the estate. Nihal Perera faced the first attack from the thugs allegedly led by the local politicians there and sustained severe injuries in his legs.

But he never bowed to them and started work at the estate after two weeks treatment at the hospital. The Police seems taking no action regarding the attack on Estate Superintendent and his life was at a risk at the impending death threats coming from these thugs in the forms of anonymous calls.

Since there was no Police action to assure his protection, the plantation company provided him with four private security personnel hired from a security firm in Colombo.

So he had to engaged in his duties along with these private security personnel and on July 5 he left in his vehicle to the factory stores along with three private security personnel as one had to remain at the bungalow for its protection.

As he arrived at the factory store a group of thugs came in a SUV, surrounded his vehicle and started brutally assaulting him. The unarmed security guards were unable to fight with the thugs who were allegedly armed with clubs and knives. The three security guards got injured and the thugs took the upper hand. No one came to their aid fearing the consequences.

In the presence of the workers the thugs took Nihal Perera and his three security personnel in Nihal Perera's vehicle to an isolated place close to an abandoned house and started assaulting them allegedly with clubs and swords and knives. The three security personnel were severely assaulted and the legs of the two security personnel were broken while the other one fought with the thugs with his broken hand.

They assaulted Nihal Perera and he was injured with knifing and assaults from the clubs. He was screaming in pain and shouting for help. When they were severely beaten up, the thugs left. The security personnel with broken hand disregarding his severe pain took severely injured Nihal Perera and the two security personnel with broken legs into the vehicle and driven the vehicle back to the factory single handedly seeking help to take them to the hospital.

Though there were vehicles parked at the store no one came forward to help him to take the severely bleeding Nihal Perera to the hospital, while giving excuses to avoid it. Eventually one worker at the store room came forward to take their vehicle to the hospital.

Time was fast running out and Nihal Perera was struggling with death inside the vehicle. The vehicle was filled with his blood as he was severely bleeding due to multiple injuries in his body. He was screaming and the vehicle was fast running towards the nearby hospital.

But that effort was only a struggle with time. As they were about to enter the hospital Nihal Perea breathed his last. He was pronounced dead due to severe bleeding from multiple injuries caused by the thugs.

The thugs won the game and the man who came to make Nooria Estate a world renowned one standing against corruption and wastage, finally had to sacrifice his life as Police remained silent with no investigations into the death threats on him and thugs were creating havoc there.

They may not have understood how important the life of Nihal Perera who was 45 years experienced personnel in the plantation industry in Sri Lanka. During his 45 years career he had developed a number of tea estates in the country into highly graded estates.

He served at the High Forest tea estate in Kandapola and Bradley Estate and contributed for the development of those estates. Though he was retired as a planter 12 years ago he was invited to serve at the plantation in Maskeliya as they were aware of his capabilities. Though he agreed to work there only for five years he had to serve for 12 years. But ultimately he had to face resistance from the workers who were working for a politician there. The owner of the estate and Nihal Perera were also assaulted by them as they were reluctant to work according to their rules and regulations.

Later, on the request of his family he gave up that job and later took up a position as a Secretary to the Sri Lanka Planters Association. But talking about the problems faced by the planters and finding solutions was never a job that satisfied him as his desire was always to be with plantations and develop them with his fine touch. He always wanted to see estates looks gorgeous by making the soil in the plantations fertile, thus making them profit making ventures.

It was during that time that he was invited by the US based Walters Bay International to manage Nooriya Estate in Deraniyagala.

According to his family, though he was offered to work from Colombo instead of staying there at Deraniyagala he preferred to stay at the estate as he thought it was essential to get rid of wastage and corruption. Since assuming duties in January, one main thing he had done was to stop giving ransom to thugs reigning the area supported by local politicians. He has stopped timber rackets and felling of trees in the estate according to the wishes of these thugs.

The thugs were also using teas produced and also forced labourers to work for them, ruining the future of the entire estate. Nihal Perera had put a stop to all these nefarious activities and done his best to develop the estate as he was skilled in developing estates with low cost. But all his hopes to develop that estate shattered at the hands of these thugs.

Though he died under tragic circumstances, Nihal Perera had a wish in his life. He wanted his body to be buried within 24 hours of his death. Even his beloved son now living in the United States could not attend his funeral and his grief stricken wife and daughter yearn for justice from the authorities over the killing of their beloved one.

The Planters Association vehemently condemned the killing and staged a protest demanding justice over Nihal Perera's death and impartial investigations over the incident when his funeral was held in Ratmalana. The Tea Exporters Association also condemned the killing of this senior planter and demand justice against those responsible for his killing, including those politicians involved.

Investigations have been taken over by the Criminal Investigation Department, following doubts raised about the lethargic action of the Deraniyagala Police. The CID has been able to arrest 15 suspects connected to the incident and a former Chairman of Deraniyagala Pradeshiya Sabha has surrendered to the Courts through a lawyer. Accordingly 16 people connected to this case have been remanded by the Avissawella Magistrate.

The grief stricken family and the villagers believe that it was the lethargic attitude of the Deraniyagala Police that enabled the politically backed thugs to act freely and take the life of Nihal Perera. According to the latest reports, the Inspector General of Police has taken action to transfer the OIC of the Deraniyagala Police and a few others officers to other Police stations following this incident while the CID is continuing investigations.