Wasim Thajudeen left an undying memory

While the remains of Sri Lanka rugby fullback Wasim Thajudeen will be exhumed on Monday under armed guard with his death posing many unanswered questions, his followers and team-mates alike will never be able to come to grips with the May 17 tragedy that ended his career and life.

Thajudeen graduated at S. Thomas' College in Mount Lavinia and played his last season in 2003 before joining Havelocks Sports Club from where he moved on to represent Sri Lanka at the internationally famous Hong Kong Sevens in 2008.

"I did not believe that this (tragic death) could have happened to him, I thought it was a joke", Thajudeen's team-mate Ashen Karthelis told the Sunday Observer in an interview.

"It's really hard to explain when you have lost a team-mate and friend. It was not a good feeling at all".

Thajudeen was Karthelis' deputy at school and the two also played together in the Sri Lanka team.

Karthelis was one of the first thunderstruck visitors at the scene of the tragedy where Thajudeen's charred body was discovered in his car in the early hours of May 17, 2012 just a mile away from the Havelocks club in downtown Colombo.

At the time police told the media his death could have been the result of a high-speed crash but many journalists suspected foul-play.

Government media spokesman and minister Rajitha Senaratne told reporters on Thursday that Thajudeen, then aged 28 at the time of his demise, was murdered by men from the former Presidential Security Division better known as PSD.

Police now believe that Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was also a rugby player, could shed more light on Thajudeen's tragic death.