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CID looking for hidden hand behind Douglas’ killing
By Asif Fuard
The CID in its investigation into Tuesday’s brutal killing of Inspector Douglas Nimal and his wife at Athurugiriya is trying to uncover whether the killing could have had any police involvement.

So far the detectives have managed to obtain vital clues on the killing and are trying to trace those who were close associates of the interdicted Dematagoda police Inspector.

The detectives have also recorded statements from IP Douglas’s family members as he had received several death threats in the past. IP Douglas and eight other police officers were allegedly framed of involvement in a narcotics scandal which was later blown out of proportion by some senior officers.

The inspector and the other officers were arrested early this year and later interdicted. Two months later when the case came up before the Maligakande Magistrate, the Attorney General discharged the officers from their narcotics charges as the Colombo Crimes Division did not have the necessary evidence to file plaint.

The Inspector and the eight other police officers were arrested on the basis of a statement given to the CCD by another suspect who was wanted for several criminal acts such as drug trafficking and murder.

The officers allegedly framed in the drug scam included Inspectors Anura Silva (Borella), Douglas Nimal (Dematagoda), G. Kalansuriya, Reserve Sub-Inspector Pushpakumara, Police Constables C. Mervin, S. Kithsiri, S. Zoysa and A. Jayasinghe.

Despite Inspector Douglas and the other officers being cleared of all charges against them the police department had upto now failed to reinstate them in their posts.

Investigations have revealed that on Tuesday morning Inspector Douglas who left home with his wife in his Toyota Town Ace van had been followed for sometime by a group in another vehicle.

As Inspector Douglas came to Pore in Athurugiriya he realized he was being trailed. It was at this point the unidentified gunmen fired several rounds at Inspector Douglas’s vehicle resulting in the vehicle going off the road killing him and his wife.

The CID said a Chinese built T-56 rifle was used in the double killing.
The Sunday Times learns that due to an internal dispute in the police department over the arrest of drug kingpins later led to the arrest of these officers on thumped up charges by the Colombo Crimes Division
The animosity between these officers and the CCD was brewing for some time when CCD officers raided the same ‘crime scenes’ where local police officers were involved in undercover operations. This invariably caused more than a little confusion and eventually led to a situation where the local undercover operatives were arrested by CCD officers.

Six of these officers who were carrying out undercover operations were asked to make a statement at the CCD on December 28. The officers were asked to make a statement after a woman named Zulfika from Dematagoda had implicated them as having links with a drug king-pin in her area-known as “Kosala”. The woman was a notorious small-time drug peddler. As soon as the six officers reached the CCD office in Dematagoda they had been stripped of their uniforms and remanded.

However, The Sunday Times learns that this same woman had implicated another inspector, S. Kalansuriya of the Bambalapitiya Police over another case and this inspector was interdicted by the Police Department after the Bribery Commission investigated and found him guilty of taking bribes. He was later arrested.

The drug dealer Kosala had given a statement accusing Inspector Douglas of receiving Rs. 6,000 a month from him. However questions have arisen after the CCD failed to arrest Kosala, a wanted man.

Inspector Douglas Nimal had helped crackdown a record number of more than 300 drug cases in Colombo last year alone. He had also been the mastermind behind the crackdown of a heroin haul valued at more than four million rupees
A week before Inspector Douglas was arrested he had carried out an operation to bust one of Sri Lanka’s biggest drug lords “Guna” from the Kimbula Ella area in Modara. He had apparently succeeded in netting two of Guna’s cronies who reportedly had two million rupees worth of heroin in their possession.

The Sunday Times learns about an incident which had led to a clash between CCD officers and some of Inspector Douglas’s men during an operation to track down a drug dealer. Inspector Douglas had been assigned to arrest drug dealer, “Junda” who had shot a rival drug dealer’s brother. When the inspector had tried to arrest Junda who was armed, he had reportedly run towards some CCD officers who were on a routine patrol.

The CCD officers had reportedly not allowed Inspector Douglas to arrest Junda, who was wanted for drug dealing, robbery and several killings. The inspector had made a statement against the CCD officers for obstructing him from carrying out his duties.When the case was taken up at the Maligakande Magistrate’s Court the Magistrate had ordered CCD Director Sarath Lugoda to produce the accused ‘Junda’ before Courts. But the Senior Superintendent had told the Courts that there was no such person in police custody.

This caused a grudge against IP Douglas for crossing the path of the CCD which resulted in him and few others being arrested. His brother recently gave a statement to the Kaduwela Magistrate that Inspector Douglas was harassed by the CCD on a number of occasions.

Some of the officers who were victimized are filing fundamental rights cases against DIG Pujitha Jayasundara, CCD Director SSP Lugoda, CCD Officer-in-Charge Inspector Nuwan Wedasingha and Police Chief Chandra Fernando.
Inspectors Association President Chief Inspector Dale Gunarathna told The Sunday Times that the Association will be having a close look at the ongoing investigation to see if a competent probe into the matter was being done by the CID.

“I could say that IP Douglas was killed because of the inaction of the police department. The Inspector General of Police should take steps to reinstate these officers as they have been discharged. We will be having a close watch and as the Inspectors Association we will see to it that justice is done,” he said.

“As soon as IP Douglas was released he complained to the Human Rights Commission. He also took steps to file a fundamentals rights case. We hope to see that some justice is done in order to prevent such occurrences in the future,” Inspector Gunarathna said.

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