Breakthrough in the assassination of Danny Hittetiyage

Sunday Crime by Jayampathy Jayasinghe

It was around 4.30 p.m. on Sunday evening when people gathered at Makandura junction, Kamburupitiya heard the sudden burst of gunfire of an automatic weapon. They ran helter skelter while some ducked for cover to avoid being hit by flying stray bullets.

The gunman's potential target was the former veteran politician Danny Hittetiyage, (57). He was a former Minister in the Southern Provincial Council and was the Chairman of the Southern Development Authority.

The assassin had followed Hittetiyage on a motor bike. The assassin seated on the pillion got off suddenly and opened fire at Hittetiyage with his automatic weapon. It would have taken less than three minutes for the assassin to exterminate him with a sophisticated weapon such as a T-56 automatic rifle that many underworld criminals possess these days. Several T-56 bullet casings were found at the scene of the crime, when police visited the spot.

Danny Hittetiyage fell victim to an assassin's bullet while talking to some persons just outside a boutique at Makandura about 300 metres away from his house. He left home that afternoon to purchase some cigarettes from a boutique close by. Having parked his vehicle about 100 metres away from the boutique he walked up to the boutique while two men on a Bajaj Pulser motor cycle had tracked him down.

Soon after opening fire, the assassin fled from the scene along with the motor cycle rider towards the direction of the Matara town. Initial investigations reveal that it was a contract killing according to Kamburupitiya police. The Chairman who was wounded in the attack was rushed to the Kamburupitiya hospital from where he was transferred to the Matara hospital due to his serious condition. However he succumbed to injuries after undergoing an operation at the Matara hospital. He was the father of three, two daughters and a son.

Security blanket

The high profile assassination of the Southern Development Authority's Chairman galvanised the entire southern province police into action. Under the supervision of SSP Matara, Wijetunga and ASP Matara Palitha Ratnatilleke several police teams fanned across the area to apprehend the killers. The entire area came under a security blanket with setting up of road blocks. Despite the road blocks the killers however, managed to slip through the cracks.

ASP Palitha Ratnathilake who spearheaded the investigation said the motive for the killing was due to a long standing feud between two families in the area. Around two years ago the Chairman's brother-in-law was assassinated by a group of underworld men. There was bitter enmity between Hithatiyage's sister who ran a montessori school and a parent of a child.

The child being admonished by a montessori teacher also became a big issue with the parent. The other reason being the involvement of an underworld character who had forcibly encroached into several acres of land belonging to another person with several other villagers.

According to Police the underworld character is suspected to be the mastermind behind the assassination. He had been in remand in connection with several other robberies and was released recently. The underworld character had subsequently come to know that plans were underway by the Southern Development Authority to acquire the land that he occupies with others, displacing them for ever.

Breakthrough

Meanwhile police said that they have made a break- through in the investigations. The assassin who pulled the trigger on the Chairman of the Southern Development Authority has been identified at last. The assassin is believed to be an underworld contract killer from Ambalangoda. Three more persons from Makandara area along with another person residing in Piliyandala have been arrested in connection with the murder. Several police teams have been deployed for the arrest of the assassin.

The man from Piliyandala, a native of Makandura had been a close associate of the underworld character who masterminded the plot to assassinate the Southern Development Authority Chairman, police say. Danny Hittetiyage was a popular politician in the Southern province. He was a former central party committee member of the Communist party. During the last Presidential election campaign he worked tirelessly for the United People's Freedom Alliance.