There was much confusion amidst reports that a person who claimed to be the driver of Sunday Leader Founder Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge had identified the Army Intelligence Officer Premananda Udalagama as his abductor.
Lasantha with Mahinda and Wiyedasa
Wickrematunge was driving the car himself at the time of his assassination in January 2009, and there have been no reports that confirm the abduction of this driver.
When the Colombo Telegraph contacted SP Ruwan Gunasekera, he said that as the CID was currently conducting investigations, and as the investigations had not concluded there were limitations on commenting on the case.
When queried as to how more information can be obtained in this regard including verification over claims that Wickrematunge’s driver was abducted, Gunasekera said, “You can request for more information from the IGP by writing to him.”
Today, a person who claims to be the driver of Wickrematunge identified the Army Intelligence Officer as the person who allegedly abducted him. The driver identified the suspect who is a Sergeant-Major during an identification parade in the presence of the Mount Lavinia Additional Magistrate. Subsequently, Udalagama was further remanded till August 3, 2016 by Mount Lavinia Chief Magistrate Mohamed Sahabdeen.
The CID arrested Udalagama this month claiming that he was involved in the murder.
In May, IGP Pujith Jayasundara issued a gag order on the police media unit, including the official spokesman.
Wickrematunge, a strong critic of the government under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was killed in January 2009 while on his way to work. ( By Munza Mushtaq @ Colombo Telegraph )
Devasiri / July 27, 2016
Surprise to all. Last sunday Divaina too carried an account which corroborated that Lasantha drove himself to work on this particular day. He had not used his driver that day. If driver was there, then why did not he take Lasantha to hospital immediately. It was left to passers by!.
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anonymous / July 28, 2016
Your comment:”He had not used his driver that day”. Don’t we all know that? The driver is on about his abduction after the killing by these murderers. Please do not try to mislead the public.
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yakadaya / July 28, 2016
Read the whole story, dont just shoot off your comments without reading the FULL STORY.
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yakadaya / July 28, 2016
Read the whole story, dont just shoot off your comments without reading the FULL STORY. Only Baiyyo’s read the Divaina.
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KA Sumanasekera / July 28, 2016
What is this?.. Is it another Ataka Nataka from Batalanada Ranil’s Yahapalana Police?..
Field Marshall Fonny , the current UNP Minister for something was in total control of not only Sergent major Udalamagama, but also the whole Intelligence Unit which perished in Milleneum City.
Doesn’t he know who killed this Lassantha,,,,
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Donegle / July 28, 2016
Living in Australia are you the expert on this case? If that is the case then you should also be questioned and even arrested for withholding information. Ataka Nataka my foot!
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Tamil from the north / July 28, 2016
Doesn’t he know who killed this Lassantha,,,, ????
Sumane you are a low class coolie of the Parayapaksas. You and the entire world knows your master Goat had Lasantha murdered. You have the bloody gall to come here and refer to the great Lasantha as ‘this Lasantha’. Bloody clown.
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KA Sumanasekera / July 28, 2016
Vallala from Scarborough.
Pity your hero Mr Pirahaparan is not around, Otherwise he would have sent P Amman to help Batalanada Ranil to find the culprit.
BTW, do you still call coolies low class and low caste?…
No wonder your fellow Vellala Wigneswaran’s Yahapalana Federal Eelaam has a separate Model for our Up Country brethren…
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Rohan / July 28, 2016
/Vallala from Scarborough./
Okay, we shall call you, Govigama KASmalam from Melbourne.
If you are so much of a patriot, why don’t you work for Sri Lankans in Sri Lanka? Other than cleaning the trash of Kurakkan Samagama, what else do you do??
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Richard / July 28, 2016
It was not Batalanda Ranil who used the services of Karuna Amman (who slaughtered 600 policemen)to abduct in white vans and kill civilians and others who opposed the “Raja Pakayas”.
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Rohan / July 28, 2016
It was not Batalanda Ranil who used the services of Emil Kanthan (who was an LTTE agent) to pay LTTE millions of dollars to boycott the election for “Raja Pakayas”.
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Dankottuwa Manike / July 28, 2016
This is Garam Masala without salt and pepper.
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Rohan / July 28, 2016
Now who is stirring this? This is to confuse the whole process, and someone has to get to the bottom of it quickly.
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Plato. / July 28, 2016
By the time the Lasantha probe is concluded,even the children of Lasantha will be no more!
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Push / July 28, 2016
I think it’s true that there was no driver at the time of the incident. But the driver was brought to the courts as a witness on other grounds. If not for Ranil and Yahapanaya this case would never ever have come up. At least now we must remove the blinkers.
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Baneof Pompousasses / July 28, 2016
are you guys all pompous asses living in AU or NZ? just go eat your Marmite and stay quite in your self bloated corner.
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