Deputy Director recalls chilling experience
By Jayampathy JAYASINGHE
Despite holding a high rank in the Archaeological Department as a
Deputy Director (Planning), he shunned ostentation. He was a simple
down-to-earth man who preferred commuting to work daily by public
transport. He was also a well-known in his neighbourhood at
Kadawata-Ragama.
As usual one day, he left his Kadawata residence on September 1, to
reach his office at Marcus Fernando Road, Colombo 7. He had a busy
schedule that day in office. He hurried to the bus halt from where he
could catch a bus proceeding to the Kandy Road. The bus halt was a
little distance away from his home. While at the bus halt, he saw a
strange woman clad in a saree a few feet away from him but he could not
remember having seen her before at the bus halt. A car pulled up
alongside and while she boarded the car she deliberately dropped her
mobile phone.
The Deputy Director who saw the mobile phone on the ground quickly
gestured to her about it. When she peeped out of the car she saw her
mobile phone. She thanked him profusely and inquired whether he needed a
lift as she was going towards the Kandy-Colombo Road. He thanked her and
got in. While in the rear seat he noticed the driver was a young person.
The woman was the only passenger. He knew neither of them nor had he
seen them before.
The couple dropped him on the Kandy Road and after exchanging
pleasantries went their way. The following day too, the Deputy Director
left his home as usual in the morning for work. When he arrived at the
bus halt he saw the same women whom he had met the previous day. They
greeted each other and chatted for a while. The woman told him that she
was waiting for her friend, in a short while and inquired whether he
needed a lift to the Kandy-Colombo Road. He humbly acknowledged her kind
gesture. A short while later the car turned up and both of them boarded.
The car proceeded to the Kandy-Colombo Road where he was dropped.
A strange man
On the third day too, the Deputy Director left his home as usual and
arrived at the bus halt in the hope that he could get a lift. But he was
sad when he found that the woman failed to turn up. However, in a short
while the car that picked him the previous day turned up and the driver
inquired whether he needed a lift. He consented and boarded the car
little knowing what was in store for him. He observed that besides the
driver there was a stranger seated alongside in the front seat. He was a
smart young man whom he had not seen before.
While proceeding to the Kandy-Colombo Road, the young man brandished
a pistol suddenly and held it against the Deputy Director's head. He
threatened to shoot him and ordered him to keep calm.
The gunman then ordered him to lie on the back seat and drove to
Athurugiriya instead of dropping him at the Kandy-Colombo Road. The
gunman blind-folded the Deputy Director and led him to a safe house at
Athurugiriya. He was put into a room where he was chained. "The two men
had rented the premises at Athurugiriya to keep hostages and for other
nefarious activities", police sources said.
Nobody in the Archaeological Department, nor his family or any other
person had known what had befallen him that day.
This was a pre-planned operation executed by two ruthless young men.
However, when the Deputy Director failed to return home that evening his
wife and children were perturbed. The same evening his wife lodged a
complaint at the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) following her husband's
mysterious disappearance later in the evening. His abductors demanded Rs.
4.5 million for his release. They told her in no uncertain terms to sell
the Deputy Director's new car and hand over Rs. 4.5 million for his
release. According to the police the car had been purchased on a permit
issued to public servants.
The gang had also threatened to kill him if the cash was not handed
over to them in time. On the instructions of the DIG Crimes, Anura
Senanayake, the Director Colombo Crime Division (CCD) Superintendent of
Police D.R.L. Ranaweera, was entrusted with the task of probing the
abduction. On his instructions OIC (CCD) Chief Inspector Hemantha, IP
Kularatne, SI Tibbatuwawa and other police officers were assigned to
arrest the abductors. Following the abduction a manhunt was launched to
arrest the gang.
Ransom demands
That particular night, the Deputy Director's family received several
ransom demands from the gang for his release. However, CCD men moved in
quickly to the residence of the Deputy Director and evacuated his family
to a house close by. Several CCD men and women acting under cover took
the house. Soon they began communicating with the abductors with regard
to the ransom money they had demanded. But the gang members unrelented
and did not want to bargain with the sum demanded. They insisted on the
Rs. 4.5 million.
While the abductors had been communicating with the undercover CCD
officers, the telephone booths from which the calls originated were
identified. Sleuths found that the telephone booths were at Welikada and
Athurugiriya. The following day several undercover CCD men launched a
surveillance campaign to identify the abductors. They took up positions
near five telephone booths from where the callers had spoken the
previous day. Police, however, suspected two men who turned up at one
booth. They followed them to Athurugiriya but did not arrest them.
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Two green toy plastic
pistols and a genuine pistol. |
However, the abductors got wind of the policemen trailing them. This
generated a sense of panic. Their instant reaction was to release the
man who was still holed up at Athurugiriya before an encounter with the
police. They released him at Athurugiriya where they dumped him in a
shrub jungle. Thereafter, the Deputy Director found his way home and
related the chilling experience to his wife and two children. Later he
explained the whole episode to the police where they recorded a detailed
statement from him. He was fortunate the abductors had not caused him
any physical harm while in captivity. But the psychological trauma he
underwent was unbearable, he told the police. Prior to his release the
gang stole his credit card, and other personal belongings.
Gang traced
The sleuths eventually traced the two-member gang at their homes at
Miriswatta and Welikada. Police also recovered a T-56 rifle and 31
rounds of ammunition, two cartridges, four plastic pistols, eight mobile
phones, six identity cards, one driving licence, an identical police
uniform, one pair of binoculars, a mask, three sets of gloves, a set of
dentures in their possession. The T-56 weapon was concealed in a large
Buddha statue and parts of it were hidden in a large guitar as well at
the residence of the main suspect at Welikada. Police sources said the
T-56 weapon was stolen from soldiers manning a checkpoint at
Koswatta-Talangama on January 16. It had been stolen by the two-member
gang who abducted the Deputy Director.
After stopping their vehicle at the checkpoint, the two-member gang
showered praise on the soldiers for their gallantry in eradicating
terrorism and inquired whether they were in need of tea. When the
soldiers consented, two cups of drugged tea were given.
The soldiers fell unconscious after drinking the tea. Thereafter, the
gang stole a T-56 weapon from one of the soldiers and disappeared from
the scene. The two soldiers later lodged a complaint at the Talangama
police station about the missing T-56 weapon.
According to police sources the main suspect, in the abduction of the
Deputy Director was a third year university student of Sri
Jayawardenapura University. He had built a statue at a temple close to
the residence of the Deputy Director, some time ago. The suspect is
married to a graduate teacher of a leading school in Colombo. Further
investigations are being conducted by Director, Colombo Crime Division (CCD)
SP, D.R.L. Ranaweera and OIC CCD, Chief Inspector Hemantha.
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