Woman throws acid on police, mayhem in village

by Ananda Agalakada

“My house has been broken into and all my jewellery which I kept so safely even without wearing has been stolen. Someone has broken into my home while I was away. I had just gone to the town and when I came back I found the window which I had locked had been wrenched open and my house had been broken into. Then my pettagama had been ransacked and all the jewellery which I kept safely inside was stolen”. This was the lament of podi Nona when she lodged a complaint with the Dedigama police.

This was the latest in a series of complaints lodged by villagers in Dedigama. The police were baffled because the other complaints were mainly regarding cash robberies and they were wondering whether the robber was one and the same person or whether it was a gang of robbers operating in the village or whether this was a means of misleading the police. Anyway the Dedigama police were on high alert looking for a noted criminal whom they suspected could be the culprit but could not trace his whereabouts.

All leads that they had led to nowhere and the police returned empty handed.

Ferocious

“We just received the news that Nimal has broken into another house yesterday”, was the talk of the town. The 38-year-old Viyanwalage Nimal Kumarasiri was one of the most wanted criminals by the police. The villagers of Dedigama feared even hearing Nimal's name because of his involvement in many burglaries in the area. Now the well-built Nimal, with his ferocious appearance was notorious for theft and for causing immense trouble in the village. No one dared to challenge him fearing reprisal.

He lived a secret life and people in the area never dared to give any information about him fearing reprisals.

Villagers lived in absolute fear because whenever the police tried to arrest Nimal he escaped overpowering the police and escaping the police net. Nimal had a hunch that the police were now really and truly after him because he had foiled every attempt to apprehend him.

It was in this backdrop that the OIC of the Dedigama police, IP K.D.S. Balasooriya was at sixes and sevens wondering how he was going to trap the suspect. Then suddenly one day he was tipped off by vigilant villagers that Nimal was hiding in his house in Dedigama. Balasooriya was a brave, vigilant officer who decided to put an end to the agony that had befallen the villagers and was determined to act swiftly.

This time around he said, “We will somehow get hold of the thief and a police team comprising 12 policemen including some senior officers set about the task. OIC Balasooriya and crime OIC IP Mahinda with their team swooped on the house where Nimal was hiding in the wee hours of the morning last week so that he will be taken unaware.

Commotion

Nimal's house was closed when the police team reached the location. However, the OIC and a few officers stayed close to the front door of the house while the others kept a close watch over the rear door. The OIC banged on the door and ordered “|Open the door at once, we are from the Dedigama police”. Since there was a commotion, Nimal's elder sister, brother and brother-in-law who lived nearby too came to the scene. They realised that the police had surrounded Nimal's house. They too had asked Nimal to open the door but he did not respond. All efforts proved futile and the police decided to forcibly enter the house by breaking the front door. As soon as the police team entered the house, a woman who was in the house came out with a canister in her hand and threw the contents on the police officers.

There was utter pandemonium because two officers who were directly in the line of attack fell to the ground writhing in pain and the suspect was under the impression that he could make good his escape. Even under the unexpected circumstance the rest of the police team did not lose sight of the purpose for which they had come.

They apprehended the suspect at last. But all was not over, the police officers had to be despatched to hospital for treatment and the suspect had to be taken to the police while the woman who was later identified as the suspect's wife had also to be apprehended. It was later found that the woman had always prepared herself thinking that the police would swoop down on the suspect and had thus armed herself with a canister containing the lethal liquid. OIC Balasooriya managed to evade the acid attack but a few others of the police team were injured.

The woman who allegedly carried out the attack was none other than Nimal's wife, who was identified as Dharma Kanthi. The woman depended on Nimal who had upto date provided her with everything she wanted and she had no other means of income. It was later found that Dharma Kanthi had always assisted the suspect to escape and this time around too she had thought that she would thwart any attempt to arrest her husband.

Burns

Sergeant Sunil, Sergeant Jayathilaka, PC Padmakumara and PC Senaviratne were seriously injured. Villagers said the injured officers had covered their eyes with their bare hands and had fallen in excruciating pain due to severe burns on their face and eyes.

OIC Balasooriya was taken aback at as he never expected the woman to carry out an acid attack on the unsuspecting police team. Being an experienced police officer, he ran out of the house and drew water from a nearby well and poured the water on the injured men.

He then rushed the injured officers to the Kegalle hospital. The doctors found that the two officers' eyes were seriously injured and they would have to do undergo surgery. Although, left the hospital after treatment two officers Padmakumara and Sunil had to be hospitalised for further treatment. Police said Sunil was operated more than eight times and Padmakumara was operated on many times but he lost the vision in one eye.

The OIC said, although Nimal Kumarasiri attempted to run away through the rear door during the commotion, police officers foiled his attempt. A little later, the officers came to know that Nimal had swallowed poison but he survived that attempt and was produced before the Kegalle magistrate who ordered the suspect to be hospitalised in remand custody.