Unravelled!

The horrors of Dankotuwa unfold as police arrest five suspects:

by Ranil Wijayapala

The burnt van in which the five charred bodies were found Pix: Prasad Poornamal

Three of the five suspects being taken into custody

The five charred bodies found in a burnt van in an isolated location in Buthgampola, Koshinna in Dankotuwa on March 11, put the country in yet another dilemma, at a time when law enforcement authorities were making an all-out effort to stem the rising crime rate.

Since this particular crime scene had a different dimension, compared to the shooting incidents in the past few weeks, the IGP handed over the case to the CID.

Despite the bodies found in the charred van being burnt beyond recognition, the police had some clues to dig deeper into the incident and unravel the horror behind it. According to the police officers who investigated the incident, the manner in which the bodies were found in the van, inferred that the victims had been brought in the van, after they were killed at another spot. The perpetrators had then fled the area after setting the van alight.

Following the Magistrate’s visit, the bodies were kept at the Negombo General Hospital morgue for identification.

Though the bodies were charred beyond recognition, crucial evidence - the registration number of the van WP PH -1080 a Toyota KDH type helped the police to unravel the mystery. When the news about the murder spread, the police received information that a van similar to the burnt van in Dankotuwa had been seen at a residence in Asirigima, Gonawila on March 9, a day before it was found with the charred bodies.According to police investigations, the van was originally owned by a woman named Mallika and was given to a finance company to seize vehicles which defaulted leasing payments to the company. The finance company had in turn given the vehicle over to Kapila Samantha Bandara alias ‘Navy’ Kapila, a resident of Pannala, Gonawila who had been deployed by the finance company to seize vehicles which defaulted instalment payments.

Extortion

Police conducting investigations on the incident based on eye-witness accounts and also analysing the telephone numbers used by ‘Navy’ Kapila on a previous occasion had found that the vehicle had been parked at the residence of Manoj Amila Nuwan Almeida at 119, Asirigama, Gonawila.

Though the police felt it would take days to uncover the story behind the charred van, they unravelled the mystery in two to three days, after the incident was reported to the police.

The suspect, where the van was reportedly parked on the evening of March 9 was taken in for questioning and he unfolded the story behind the incident.

Manoj Amila Nuwan Almeida, a young father of two children, had earned his living by providing boiler contracts to a factory in Makandura. Though he earned an adequate income from the business, he had to meet extortion demands of notorious gangs in the area to run his business smoothly.

‘Navy’ Kapila had demanded a ransom from him and he had given “Navy’ Kapila money on two occasions. On March 9, too ‘Navy’ Kapila had demanded money from Amila and told him that they would come to his residence to collect the money.

As he could not evade ‘Navy’ Kapila, according to a statement he had given to the police, Amila had invited them to his residence for a drink and asked them to bring some bites to enjoy the drink. ‘Navy’ Kapila along with four others arrived in his van and had partaken in the drinking bout.

Money

‘Navy’ Kapila had told ‘Three- wheel Ranji’ to bring fried rice and cigarettes. ‘Three wheel Ranji’ also had eaten some of the food and had liquor. ‘Navy’ Kapila had then asked for ransom money from Amila and had told him that someone was bringing the money to a location close to the Makandura weekly fair premises and that he would hand over that money to him there.

After consuming three bottles of alcohol and having dinner, Amila had asked ‘Navy’ Kapila and his friends to go to Makandura in their van saying that he would come on his bicycle. Krishnaratne alias Sooppuwa had driven the van from Amila’s residence to Makandura.

At the Makandura weekly fair, Amila had asked ‘Navy’ Kapila to come right in to the fair and then assaulted him with a club and stabbed him with a knife. After attacking ‘Navy’ Kapila, Amila had gone back to the van and asked one of the four people in the van to come with him to see Navy Kapila, and Amila then assaulted this man as well and stabbed him with a knife. In a similar manner, Amila had assaulted all four of them and had later asked four of his friends to take the five bodies away from the scene.

Police conducting investigations found CCTV footage where the van along with two motorcycles were plying on the road on two occasions - around 1 am and 1.45 am. The suspects told the police they had gone to the spot earlier to see whether it was safe.

Amila and his friends had put the bodies of the victims into the van and driven it towards the location they had selected. Amila had driven the van, while the other two motorcycles followed it.

At this isolated spot, they had taken petrol from one of the motorcycles and poured it over the van and set it alight and left the spot the moment the van caught fire.

A CID team led by ASP Samantha Wijesekara and IP Wijethunga arrested Manoj Amila and his four friends who helped him to take the five bodies and set them ablaze.

It has been confirmed that ‘Navy’ Kapila, a notorious person in Pannala, Mohamed Rafik Nauzad Khan alias Neina and Sanjaya Krishantha alias Soopuwa were among those who had been killed.

Investigations were now on to identify the other two victims believed to be friends of ‘Navy’ Kapila who were also killed.

Police arrested five suspects Manoj Amila and four of his friends Neomal Krishantha Fernando, Rasika Pradeep, Saman Kumara and Suneth Madhusanka and produced them before the Marawila Magistrate’s Courts. They are now in remand custody.

The CID team led by ASP Samantha Wijesekara, IP Wijethunga, CI Wasantha Ratnayake, SI Thusitha Kumara, Sergeants Medgama and Amarasinghe and PCs Gunaratnbe, Gunawardena and Range Bandara are conducting further investigations.