Playing cops and robbers in real life !

By Ananda Agalakada

This is like a detective story. Two constables went on duty to their specified areas of work and attempt to carry out their normal duty. Halt! they put out a stop signboard to halt an oncoming van from a distance. It halts as instructed and out jumped four gangster-looking roughy, toughies. At once the cops sense that there was danger round the corner.

They had no time to think or plan what the next move should be. The cops are ordered into the van. They are huddled into it and stripped naked. One of them is ordered to alight while the other is inside the vehicle in absolute fear. What is happening. His heart begins to pound.

He then sees one of the gangsters armed with a t-56 and the next thing he hears is ear splitting gun shots. The person inside broke out in a sweat but could do nothing about it. His heart was racing . "hat will be the next move?" was what was going on in his mind.

He could not think straight. His thoughts were straying all over. Then suddenly he heard a command "Get out, get out". He jumped out of the van more out of fear than anything else. The gangsters began to hit him mercilessly but he grappled with his abductors and escaped from his captors and ran for dear life through the thick jungles surrounding Kurunegala till he landed in an unknown village. The villagers were afraid when they saw him naked and bleeding but he narrated his tale and then the rest of the story is he escaped and was lucky to be alive to tell the tale.

On that fateful day two police constables, Chandana Sampath and Ajith Weerasuriya left the Kurunegala police station to the location they were assigned for the night.

They were deployed for duty near a heavy metal workshop on the Kurunegala - Dambulla Road from 10 pm until the next day morning. They had to man a road block.

They continued their work like on any other day. However, after a while the unexpected happened. The two constables saw a van proceeding from the Dambulla side and decided to stop it, not for breaking any rule but just to check the van.

They asked the driver to produce the documents and while they were about to check, a group of armed men came out of the van and overpowered the policemen. They bundled them into the van in next to no time. They covered their eyes with a piece of black cloth .

It was a frightening moment for the two constables. However they remained calm and alert. The vehicle proceeded about three kms towards Badagamuwa during which time the gangsters attempted to strip both constables. While the van proceeded the armed gang began to question the duo about their personal lives.

After a while the van was halted and the gang pulled Chandana from the van and they fired two shots at him with a T - 56 killing him on the spot. The gunmen then turned the weapon on Constable Ajith Weerasuriya who grappled with the gunman and the rest of the gang before escaping from his captors taking with him a T - 56 magazine.

Later Ajith who had managed to flee to a nearby jungle patch hid for some time. After making sure the van had gone away Weerasuriya then crept through the thick jungle until he came to a village. Here he stopped at the first house he found and asked from the surprised members of the household for a sarong. Later the villages rushed to the scene and they began to search where the van was in the dead of night.

One of the villagers narrating her experience said she had woken up and had gone outside. She was shocked to find a blood soaked naked man outside. The man who was naked had asked her for a favour. She said she was frightened when she saw him in that state and had run back into the house while screaming at the top of her voice. Her husband a local Vedamahathaya had also woken up because of her screams. The neighbours hearing the cries ran to the spot. after giving him clothes to wear , the villagers were eager to find out what had taken place.

Ajith Weerasuriya had told them that he was working at the Kurunegala police and had narrated the ordeal he and his friend had to face.

H.M.B Padmini was another neighbour at the scene and said, she heard someone shouting. “But we did not open the door and managed to look out through the window what was happening out of the house. Then we noticed a vehicle parked and go back in the vicinity” she said. .The villagers said they had first thought the naked person soaked in blood was involved in some sort of crime. “He told us he was a police constable in the Kurunegala police and he and his friend were abducted. He further said he escaped after fighting with the gang” one villager said.

“Later we came to know the naked lifeless constable felt on the pool of blood at the road. The escaped constable who was with us informed the incident the police over my mobile phone” a villager said.

Police media spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said, that the police believe that there were around four people in the van when the incident occurred.

Constable Ajith Weerasuriya then contacted police emergency 119, a team from the Kurunegala police arrived at the scene and they found PC Chandana Sampath's body. Yapa Mudiyanselage Chandana Sampath of Isuru Aragama Gokarella was born in 1972. In 1992 he joined as a constable in the Sri Lanka police department. He had served in many police stations namely Minneriya, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Inginiyagala, Vavuniya, Chilaw, Mundalama, Mannar and Kurunegala.

Chandana Sampath was later awarded bravery commendation by the IGP. R.M. Udeni Anoma Rathnayaka is his wife, 13-year-old Sanduni Navodya and 10-year-old Savindu Umanda Yapa are his daughter and son.

One million rupees has been offered as a reward by the IGP to anyone who provides information that would lead to the identity of the suspect. Those who provide information are requested to contact SSP Kurunegala, Ajantha Samarakoon on 0774 784 648, the SSP said.

It is a challenge for the Police department to hunt down the killers and bring them to justice since the policemen had been abducted stripped and one of them killed, he added.

The murdered police constable Chandana Sampath is to be promoted to the rank of Sergeant posthumously on the recommendation of IGP N.K.Illangakoon. He served for 22 years in the Sri Lanka Police.