News
Mrs Walpola and the kattadiya – the passion that ended in tragedy
Scene of the crime. Pix by Nissanka Meegoda
Exorcists the world over are known to drive out evil spirits from those known to be possessed.
However, one of their tribe was different: he turned evil and allegedly killed his paramour, all because she did not pay him a million rupees after the sale of land.
For carrying out this gruesome act, this kattadiya, as exorcists are better known in Sri Lanka, did not use any item from the black arts. Instead, he used a grenade. He pulled the pin and placed it inside the blouse of his paramour. The blast snuffed out her life and that of two others. A nine-year-old child is in a critical condition.
Police identified the attacker as Pradeep Thushara Perera, 54, and his slain victims were 41-year-old Buddhika Neelanayani Walpola and a 74-year-old woman.
The grenade explosion went off opposite a residence in Deakin Park Road, just less than half a kilometre away from the Thalangama Police station.
Investigations revealed that Ms, Walpola had sought the help of Mr, Perera, a well-known kattadiya from Himbutana, primarily to get back her husband who had deserted her and her four children four years ago.
Ms. Walpola became a regular visitor at Mr. Perera’s devale in Kanchawatta, Mulleriyawa for poojas and in turn the kattadiya visited her home to carry out various shanthikarma, or rituals, to seek her husband’s return.
After nearly one-and-a-half years of poojas and shanthikarma, Ms Walpola’s family believed that the kattadiya’s actions were bearing fruit as the estranged husband began making visits to the house.
The victim
Gradually, the work of Mr. Perera as a kattadiya gained recognition and Ms Walpola’s family members, including her children, received him at home.
Ms Walpola then sought his services to sell a valuable piece of land in the Thalangama area after several previous attempts to gain a good price had failed.
“The kattadiya had carried out various poojas and other rituals and Ms. Walpola had been able to dispose of the land at a higher price than expected,” investigations revealed.
The kattadiya had reportedly been promised Rs. 1 million if the sale of the land was successful.
In the process, Ms. Walpola and the kattadiya had reportedly fallen in love, a matter that led to disputes among the kattadiya’s family.
After news about their affair spread in his village his young son committed suicide.
Police investigations revealed that Ms. Walpola had subsequently not paid up the commission she had reportedly promised and thereafter had gradually rejected him as a lover.
The kattadiya visited the house and abused the family on several occasions, threatening them with harm.
He had visited the house on Tuesday and threatened to kill the family and take his life. Ms. Perera had lodged a complaint on the following day with the Thalangama police and requested that he be warned not to revisit her home.
Police had summoned both parties to call in for an inquiry on Thursday.
Ms Walpola, accompanied by an elderly relative and her nine-year-old daughter, was leaving the house around 10.45amwhen the kattadiya, who had been hiding in their garden, had come to the gate.
Parts of the grenade that went off (left) and the grenade that didn't go off (right)
CCTV footage from a nearby house, backed up by eyewitness accounts, shows the man, armed with two grenades, coming up close to Ms Walpola. He drops a grenade into her blouse and embraces her with the other grenade in his hand. The elderly woman tries to separate the two but the explosion goes off.
Ms Walpola and her daughter was rushed to the Koswatta Hospital and transferred to the National Hospital where the mother was pronounced dead. The kattadiya and the elderly woman were taken to the Koswatta Hospital and pronounced dead.
Police have recovered from Mr. Perera’s residence what appears to be a suicide note in which he states his intention to murder Ms. Walpola and take his own life because she had rejected him.
The investigations are being carried out by the Officer in Charge of the Crimes Division Inspector of Police, Indika Thilakaratne, under the direction of Officer in Charge of the Thalangama police, Chief Inspector Nishantha Herath.
Inspector Indika Thilakaratne