BIYAGAMA VILLAGE OWNER'S MURDER REVEALED

How murderer of Biyagama Village owner was cornered


     It was on 20th February last year that Biyagama Village owner Ranwalage Berty Jayaratna alias Suranga Mudalali was brutally murdered.

     It happened in his coconut estate in Kimbulwela belonging to him. He was 65 years old and a millionaire. He was driving his own cab from Biyagama Village Hotel to this estate. Normally, he accompanies women working in his estate in the same vehicle. But on that day he had travelled alone.

     It was Alice Nona who looks after Kimbulwalawatta. She was living in the house in the estate with her younger daughter. A few days prior to that her other daughter too came to this estate with her husband and child. When the aforementioned incident took place, the daughter's husband had taken the child to school and it was only the mother and two daughters who were left in the house.

     Alice Nona who saw Suranga Mudalali's cab travelling up in the cab along the road hurriedly ran and opened the gate. At that time the younger daughter was sweeping the compound near the house. Suranga Mudalali who went upwards and reversed the cab had come to through the  gate and put his vehicle inside. The vehicle was parked in a manner so that the front side faced the inside of the gate while the rear was outside the gate.

     Alice Nona went forward and welcomed Suranga Mudalali and both of them were chatting and were going down the estate for the purpose of checking how future work activities should be arranged. But the two of them who went down had come back once again towards the gate in a few minutes; had stopped in front of the vehicle and had engaged in conversation. for a short while. Even at that moment Alice Nona's younger daughter had been sweeping and the elder daughter had been sweeping the house.

     Suranga Mudalali then took leave of Alice Nona had gone to get into his vehicle and she had turned and was coming towards the house. In  a split of a second she heard Suranga Mudalali shouting. On turning round she had seen Suranga Mudalali being attacked by a well-built man clad in a black trouser and a long coat, wearing a black-coloured helmet which covered his face. She then raised a shout and started running towards the the place. The daughter who was sweeping the garden dropped the ekel-broom and started running in the same direction while the daughter sweeping the house too came towards the same place, shouting. But during those few seconds that passed, everything had happened and finished. With the assault of the man clad in black, Suranga Mudalali dropped down face up. The man then got on top of his body and pulled out a hidden long matchet which was inside his jacket and then dealt a heavy blow on Sranga Mudalali's forehead with both hands. With this blow his forehead and head split in two while the face too was cut. He struck several more blows with the matchet and then moved away from Suranga Mudalali.

     The murderer's attention then moved towards the mother and daughters who were running towards the scene, watching all this. He then began to chase behind the three of the with the matchet in hand. Though they turned back and started to run towards the house yelling, the younger daughter was a recipient of the assailant's blow from the matchet. One of her hands was badly cut by the blow and then the man turned round and sped towards the road and got onto his black-coloured motor-bike parked there and finally fled. Investigations in this connection was conducted by the Dompe Police and the Crime Unit of Peliyagoda Division. Though for a number of months several people were questioned and information sought and some individuals were taken into custody and questioned. But the police were unable to track the correct assailant. Later, the murder investigation of Suranga Mudalali was handed over to the Colombo Crime Division.

     In the meantime Alice Nona who looked after Kimmbulawatta left the estate and later the duties were transferred to a person called Thilanka of the Dekatana area. Rumours began to spread that Suranga Mudalali was murdered as a result of a problem relating to property. Further rumours spread to the effect that the murder was committed on the instigation of Mudalali's son and son-in-law. The media too had given much publicity to killing. However, until almost an year elapsed after the murder and no confirmation found over the truth of the rumours, it was not possible to track the murderer.

     It was while the CID officers who were looking for information about the suspect of Suranga Mudalali's murder that the police received about some weapons hidden in an estate in Dompe. The informant who provided the information also revealed that the weapons were hidden in the Kimbulwalawatta belonging to Suranga Mudalali and where the murder took place. A team of CID officers who took prompt action, hurried towards the estate only to find the gate locked. Thilalanka who looked after the estate brought the key and opened the gate. The officers entered through the gate and while searching for the weapons found a plastic can under a tree close to where Suranga Mudalali was killed. On opening the can, 2 handbombs, a clemo bomb and a long matchet in a corroding state was found. 

     When questioned about the weapons from Thilanka, he denied any knowledge about them. However, the keys of the estate was in the custody of Thilanka. Therefore it was not possible for the weapons to come into the estate without his knowledge. As such, the officers arrested him and produced him in courts and was remanded on charges of keeping destructive weapons in his possession.In the meantime, a person who came to the Crime Division of Colombo one day revealed some information.

     "Sir..... Suranga Mudalali was killed by the same Thilanka whom you arrested. On the day of the murder, I was able to identify him, but for fear of my life I kept my mouth shut. It was because he is now arrested by the police and is in remand that I now come forward to give evidence.

     Under the information given by a resident close to Kimbulwalawatta, the CCD officers who went into action once again began investigations on a wider scale.  In the meantime, the police who obtained a court order produced Thilanka to an Identity Parade. It was Alice Nona and her two daughters who were brought to identify him both of them were able to identify as to who the person was at the Identity Parade held at Pugoda Magistrate's Court.

     The witnesses admitted that it was he who killed Suranga Mudalali brutally in front of their eyes on the morning of February 20th last year. Subsequent to the Identification Parade, Mr.P.L. Priyantha, Magistrate ordered that the suspect be further remanded. But what the suspect kept on saying was that he was in no way connected to this killing.

    Though that was what he said, a number of reasons that may have originally contributed to commit this murder were revealed at the investigation being conducted by the CCC. One such revelation is an issue concerning a love affair. Police suspect that he had thought that the only obstruction to get the girl he loved was Suranga Mudal;ali and had committed the murder.

    Suranga Mudalali had served many helpless poor people with his wealth and in the same way thrown about his money for women. On investigations made according to investigations uncovered, he had had a few female friends whom he closely associated. While he had provided all necessary requirements for these women, he had even given them houses, vehicles and lands. Police also say that Alice Nona and her two daughters too were his close associates. All these are suspicious points in possession of police. Apart from this, other reasons of a suspicious nature have been uncovered in respect of the suspect. He had been for sometime been serving Suranga Mudalali, looking after the estate. At the time of the murder, Suranga Mudalali had supplied men and women to work at an estate which he had given to a close female friend of his. It is said that she was a very close friend of Suranga Mudalali's daughter. Information has been received that on the day the murder took place, this lady had handed over some lakhs of rupees of Biyagama Village to Suranga Mudalali's daughter. It is the opinion of the CCD teams that if this murder had not been committed by the suspect with the motive of getting his lover, then it could be assumed that the suspect could have been motivated on a contract or on a request made by someone. It is also the assumption of the CCD investigation team that the possibility that there could be a connection of a close relative of his family which cannot be dismissed. The investigation officers say that investigations in that respect has not been concluded. Suranga Mudalali who became immensely wealthy at the time of his death had reached that status step by step. He was born on 10th May 1947 in Biyagama and commenced life as a swimmer and diver in the Sri Lankan Navy, but later embarked in the business field after saying goodbye to his job after serving the Navy for 12 years. Initially he started a timber mills in Biyagama area by the name of Surangi Timber Mills. Surangi happens to be his daughter. As time passed, the name Surangi was coined to the surname Jayaratna and everyone came to address him as Suranga Mudalali.

     While engaged in the Mills, he started a small hotel with 5 rooms by the name Biyagama Village. Later he closed u the Mills and recruited the workers at the Mills to work in the Hotel. After developing the Hotel gradually, he brought up the Hotel to the status where it consisted of about 100 rooms, swimming pools and many other facilities inclusive of reception halls with the idea of laying foundation to a hotel in Hanwella. It was then named as Hanwella Holiday Resort. But more than the Hotel Trade, his preference was for cultivation. As such, he bought a land of about 15 perches in the Dompe area and cultivated crops in it. The number of people who found employment because of the business was over a 1,000. A few days before his death, he had received some 3 million or so money as a result of compensation offered to him because the proosed project for a highway happened to go across some parts of his land.

     The killer of this wealthy man has now been found. There is a person who knows the assailant from the name he is known. She is willing to come forard to give evidence that she saw the murder with her own eyes. The fact that this suspect had killed Suranga Mudalali with a matchet at Kimbulawala that day and then had chased behind her and also dealt a blow on her younger daughter's hand have been identified by the same victims.

    However, the suspect denies that he committed the murder. It was because of this evidence that the police has got cornered.

    Senior DIGs of Colombo Crime Department are still engaged in investigations.

narrative -- Thakshila Jayasekera