Ketayam Chintaka killed

Villagers light firecrackers ..... house set on fire

Ketayam Chintaka who was a suspect of the brutal murder of police constable Sunil of the Matara division vice-squad and his wife in Kamburupitiya area recently was shot dead recently by the STF whiling hiding in a rock-cave after a shootout.

Because of continuous raids carried out against drug-trafficking, Ketayam Chintaka had developed a sense of strong revenge against constable Liyanaarachchige Sunil and the two accomplices he made use of to murder Sunil too died a few days later after a shootout with the police.
 On the news of their deaths, an operation was launched to track the main suspect Ketayam Chintaka an in the meantime at the time he was hiding, a corpse which was floating in the Nilwala ganga was identified by his relatives as that of Ketayam Chintaka which was a strategy to mislead the police. It was later confirmed that the dead body was not that of Ketayam Chintaka.

Police say that Hewapathiranage Chintaka Vasantha Kumara alias Ketayam Chintaka succumbed to gunfire during a sudden checking out operation launched in Naigala kanda area when he had thrown a handbomb at the police who had then opened fire.

Several operations were carried out by the police and the special task force in the area to search for the suspect and information had been received from time to time that he was hiding in Ullala, Naigala kanda area.

As this hill was a place with a dense forest, the police arranged for operations on a number of instances. In the process in order to gather information, a special STF had arrived in the area. It is understood that this was a special intelligence unit from the STF which collected information about suspects who were connected to murders and underground activities in Kahawatta and Deraniyagala areas and were on the lookout to take such suspects into custody.

The leader of the team was an ASP. When the team were engaged in their duties in the area they were able to gather information that on certain occasions used to approach houses close to the forest and by force used to plunder food etcetera from the villagers. After receiving specific information this way, a special operations was carried out to arrest Chintaka.

Accordingly, this special team had been organised. For this purpose the micro group system had been utilised and a small group of 5 were used. A Police Inspector and 4 constables were engaged in this respect.

This operations had begun around 9.30 in the night unknown to anybody. The group concerned had entered the forest around 9.30 in sheer darkness and had even walked about 8 kilometres into the dense forest. Though it was indeed a very difficult task, it was not an obstacle for them because of the very special training they had received during their training period.

Later, at approximately 12 midnight the team had approached the location of the rock cave where Chintaka was hiding. Police say that by that time Chintaka had been aware of proceedings and had been  very vigilant.

As this small group was aware that Ketayam Chintaka was hiding in the cave, they had tried to make him surrender. Just then they had heard a deafening noise from behind the cordon they had laid. Later the Inspector of Police who directed the operations had come to know that it was a hand-grenade attack when 2 of his men had given a shout in pain, police say. Assuming that Chintaka would make further attacks, several gun shots were fired into the cave.

Soon after, there had been an unexpected silence all round the forest. It is said that it was around 12.10 p.m. Subsequently the team had gradually begun to approach into the cave. Even by that time they had observed that a person had fallen down. There had been a galkatas weapon and a few rounds of ammunition for the weapon. However, the police say that he had been prepared to shoot at whoever confronted him.

Later on the police too had arrived on the scene. It was found that the victim had received two gun-shot injuries on his head and chest. Thus the police officers were able to identify the body as that of Ketayam Chintaka. Whatever it is, by then, 2 constables of this special unit had received injuries because of the hand-grenade blast. Later they were despatched to hospital. A search inside the cave revealed evidence that Chintaka had lodged in the cave for a number of days and some wrappers of biscuit packets had been found. It is also said that in order to spy around during daytime, Chintaka had climbed to the top of the cave where he had been staying and it had by means of a wooden ladder which had been constructed by himself which had been found close to the cave.

In the same way the suspect had gone to houses in proximity to the forest in the night hours and had forcibly plundered the food of the villagers. It was also revealed that that in some instances Chintaka's mother too had provided him with meals.

Matara Magistrate and Addl. District Judge Mr. Manjula Karunaratna arrived there to conduct the autopsy. At that point the deceased mother had identified that the body was that of her son. 

On hearing news about the capture of Chintaka, a large crowd of villagers gathered at the place while some people from Masmulla and Kamburupitiya areas have resorted to lighting firecrackers. It is reported that at certain places even milk rice had been served.

All 4 individuals who were involved in the aforementioned murder had succumbed to death as a result of police gun-shots and by drowning. They have had to face death by police gunfire because of trying to get away from the grip of the police.

The first to receive such a treatment was 'commando' Ajit who was shot to death when he was taken to Ovitigamuwa reserve to find hidden weapons. The other two, Danushka Sandaruwan alias Suranga and  Janaka Prasanna had on trying to flee from the police had jumped into Denagama Wewa and were drowned, sometime back. Finally, the mastermind behind the said murder Ketayam Chintaka died yesterday (Dec 3).

According to information received so far, it is understood that he is still in possession of some weapons.

The double murder took place on the night of 16 November and as a result the couple Liyanaarachchige Sunil (33), a police constable and his wife Undupitiya Appuhamilage Apsara Samanmali (29) of Kamburupiiya from Masmulla area were murdered. Their youngest child had been dashed on the floor and had later recovered after treatment. The eldest child had escaped death by hiding in a corner of the room. 

Information -- Gayan Gallage