Youth killed by police in Pasyala

Crowd protest by keeping body on road of deceased Pasyala youth ...who died from police gun shots
Information is being exposed about a grave blunder committed by police about the issue relating to the death of the youth who was killed as a result of police-shooting last Wednesday night on the Colombo-Kandy main road close to Pasyala Maha Vidalaya.

24 year old Subash Indika, a father of one child thus bade goodbye to life when he was shot at by a police officer who was on security duty there at about 11.30 in the night when the victim was travelling on his motor bicycle. He was a resident of Kitulwala, Mirigama. The other young man who travelled with him was admitted to Watupitiwala Base Hospital in a state of shock and has now recovered from that condition.
The tragedy had occured when the victim Indika had gone to Nittambuwa and was coming back with a friend of his. The police had said that the 2 police officers who had been on duty at the said location concerned had signalled the bike to stop when they had passed the Pasyala Maha Vidyalaya and since they had ignored it they were shot at.

Chamath Chaturanga who was the pillion-rider on the bike when this shooting took place had this to say: "I and Indika aiya were returning from Veyangoda after going there to attend to a monetary transaction of a loan given to a certain person when 5 police officers who were under liquor put their hand out to our bike. N sooner we stopped the bike, a police officer who approached us from behind with a pistol in his hand, shot aiya. Aiya was wriggling with blood on his body after that gun-shot. Just at that moment I was able to stop a van by putting out my hand and thus took him to Watupitiwala Hospital. On the way to the hospital he muttered, 'ok ... ok' and then his head fell to a side and he died. The police officer gave me a slap on the face and asked me to tell that we fired at because we were trying to scoot away. All 5 police officers were highly drunk.

It has been revealed that the gun shot had struck the deceased's arm-pit region and the police had suspected that the shot had been fired t very close range to his body.

Police have resumed investigations to ascertain whether the police officers had fired on purpose or else he had used the pistol in his hand in a negligible manner and the shot was involuntary. According to what Nittambuwa Police say, they had fired at a vehicle which had run over a police officer who had been on traffic security duty.

Nittambuwa Police who are conducting investigations over the incident have arrested the 2 police constables and they were produced before Gampaha Magistrates court on the 13th.

Acting Magistrate Mr. Siripala M. Pathirana of Attanagalla ordered that any individual who had seen the incident or is aware of any relevant information to be present in courts to give evidence.

Final rites of the deceased youth was conducted with the attendance of a large gathering on the 14th.

Protestors who placed the coffin with the body at Kitulwala, Veda Handiya that evening demanded that justice be done.