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Kataragama seven in the net for Kiri Vehera shooting
View(s):Seven suspects, including a woman, have been arrested over the shooting of the chief incumbent of the Kataragama Kiri Vehera Rajamaha Viharaya, Venerable Kobawaka Damminda Thero.
All seven have been remanded in custody by the Tissamaharama Additional Magistrate until July 4.
Among the arrested is Asela Lakmal Bandara, 40, the former lay priest (kapu mahattaya) of the Mahasen Devalaya of the Kiri Vehera Rajamaha Viharaya. He is the alleged mastermind of the plot to murder the Ven Damminda Thero.
The other suspects are 24-year-old twin brothers J K Danushka Kumara and J K Nuwan Kumara, Kavishka Dilshan alias ‘Kurulu’ 18, G G Ashan Anuradha alias ‘Malli’, 18, and a married couple Deepika Dilhani, 35, and Withanage Sugath, 40. The first five suspects have been arrested for attempted murder while the husband and wife have been charged with aiding and abetting the crime.
All are residents of Kataragama.
At an identification parade at the Tissamaharama Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, two security officers assigned to protect the Ven Damminda Thero identified one of the suspects who opened fire on the night of June 12.
Constable Dissanayake of the Kataragama Police Station and Civil Security Department officer K A Nishantha, picked out 18-year-old Kavishka Dilshan alias ‘Kurulu’ as one of the gunmen.
Police had arrested the two 18-year-olds on the orders of the Tissamaharama Magistrate. Both Dilshan and Ashan Anuradha alias ‘Malli’ were produced for the identification parade on Wednesday, where the two security officers identified Dilshan as being one of the shooters.
Police informed court that investigations are continuing into phone records of the suspects and that CCTV footage obtained from the scene of the crime. Police also told court that the main suspect, Asela Lakmal Bandara who had been sacked from the Mahasen Devalaya about two years ago, had conspired to kill the Kiri Vehera chief incumbent and had promised Rs 3 million to the two 18-year-olds. The other suspects had conspired to carry out the murder and aided and abetted it, police told court.
Ven Damminda Thera and another monk were injured at about 10:30pm on June 12. The thero continues to receive treatment at a private hospital in Colombo.
Police say a dispute over the custodianship of the Mahasen Devalaya had led to the shooting.