{"id":165856,"date":"2016-07-28T10:55:59","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T05:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=165856"},"modified":"2016-08-02T13:05:38","modified_gmt":"2016-08-02T07:35:38","slug":"exclusive-the-inside-story-of-lasanthas-drivers-abduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/exclusive-the-inside-story-of-lasanthas-drivers-abduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: The Inside Story Of Lasantha’s Driver’s Abduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amidst confusion about a person<\/span><\/a> who claimed to be the driver of Sunday Leader Founder Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge<\/span><\/a>, who had reportedly being abducted by the Army Intelligence, it has now come to light that Dias, who worked as the driver of the late editor was abducted by the Army Intelligence because, Dias, who was often intoxicated had been going around alleging that former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> was allegedly behind the assassination, the Colombo Telegraph reliably learns.<\/p>\n

\"Lasantha<\/a>

Lasantha Wickrematunge<\/p><\/div>\n

“On the day of Lasantha’s assassination, Dias had washed the car and forgotten to take his cell phone which he had kept on the bonnet near the cavity by the wiper blades. After Lasantha left the house in the car he called him about the phone. Dias had a motor bike and collected the phone. On his return near the turn off to Lasantha’s house he had stopped at the boutique to buy cigarrettes. The boutique keeper told him that there was a guy in black with his helmet off, who had followed Lasantha. Dias had tried to call Lasantha but his line was constantly engaged.” a knowledgeable source of the investigation told Colombo Telegraph.<\/p>\n

“Dias used to consume alcohol every evening. He used to visit various places and blurt out stuff such as it was Gotabaya Rajapaksa who was behind Lasantha’s assassination. This reached the Army intelligence, who was told about Dias’s utterance, and they kidnapped him. No one knew about the kidnapping as after the driver was released he went underground through fear.”<\/p>\n

“The police did not even bother to look out for Dias during Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s time. However after the Government changed, and the CID took over the investigation, Dias was traced and questioned. He spilled the beans and said he can identify the person who hammered him. He was blindfolded and abducted but saw the person at the place where he was kept and hammered. He told the CID that the person looked just like his Uncle and then they did the sketch and followed up. That was how Udalagama was traced and later identified by Dias. The boutique keeper gave the description of the guy in black and thats the second drawing,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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