News
Victim’s mother and lodge owner give vital clues on body in bag
Police were yesterday trying to trace a man believed to be linked to the death of the 34-year-old woman whose body was discovered at the Bastian Mawatha private bus halt in Pettah on Wednesday. Questioning the victim’s mother on Friday afternoon, she had revealed that the suspect, who went by the name Krishna, had allegedly been having an extra marital affair with the woman for the past three years.
Raja who spotted the bag
Earlier (Thursday 30) the mother had contacted the Police, following the release of the woman’s picture. At the time she had told the Police that the victim was a resident of Vaddukoddai in Jaffna, and her name was Karthika. She had also stated that the victim had been married and had a seven-year-old daughter.
Following the release of the woman’s picture, police were contacted by the owner of a lodge down Hetti Weediya (Sea Street) in Colombo 11. The caller revealed that the woman and the suspect had checked into the lodge on Wednesday, July 22.
A police source said there was reason to believe the victim was killed at the lodge and her body stuffed inside the bag.
The couple had been staying at the lodge and the man had left a week later, on the morning of Wednesday, July 29, lugging a heavy bag. CCTV footage from the lodge showed the man hauling a blue Polo Bag down the lodge stairs. Police have called for public support to identify the man.
The scene at the main bus stand in Pettah when the bag with the body was found. Pic by Athula Devapriya
The gruesome murder shocked residents. On Wednesday, 59-year-old Weerapan Raja was going about his normal business, never imagining the horror that would be unveiled that day. Raja, a vendor, would board buses selling bottles of water, soft drinks and packets of gram.
Starting work at 8 a.m., Raja walked past the Anuradhapura bus terminal at Bastian Mawatha. When passing that way again at 9am he caught sight of a blue Polo bag. Seated nearby was a traveller who carried a bag with his personal belongings, Raja told The Sunday Times.
“I asked him if the bag belonged to him,” he said adding that he had become suspicious because the bag was lying a few feet away from the traveller. The man had replied in the negative. Following this, Raja had called out to one of his friends, G.S, Nandasena. Together, the pair had opened the bag.
“I first saw several clothes inside the bag and among them I noticed something soft, like a pillow. After prodding the soft object I was shocked to find that it was human flesh!” he said. In panic, he and his friend had rushed to the Bastian Road Police Station.
Police were dispatched to the site and the Aluthkade Magistrate, Thilina Gamage and several medical officials were called on for the magisterial inquiry. The Judicial Medical Officer of the Colombo National hospital released an open verdict on the death. Specimens of the body were taken for investigation.
Meanwhile police have reported three other suspicious deaths in the past two weeks alone. A man’s body was fished out from the Diyawanna Oya, in Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, in the early hours of Monday.Postmortem examinations revealed he had died from drowning. The identity of the man has not been revealed yet, police said, adding that examination of the body was still underway at the National Hospital.