Student falls from mango tree .... dies

Principal makes student climb tree;   after dying by falling .... blood stains erased and bags of mangoes hidden

Last Friday, a schoolboy of 15 years in Dikkumbura, Rattota, Matale had fallen from a mango tree and died.

This is an accident which happened because of a personal request on the part of the Principal of the school and the student had committed the act without taking proper precautions. The Principal, fearing that his mistake would come to light after the death of the student; had taken steps to destroy any relevant evidence.

Police say that there is evidence to say that deceased Kasun Buddhika Ranatunga studying in grade 10 of the school had been made to climb the mango tree last Friday at a time when he was under the guardianship of the school.


A special police investigation is being carried out concerning the covering up of fallen blood stains found at the foot at the bottom of the tree when the student and  the fact of hiding the manure bag containing the mangoes.

What householders of the deceased say is that the Principal had on a number of occasions made the students climb the mango tree from a few weeks back and had mangoes plucked and he had done also with the aid of the deceased student for his private gain.

The death of the student arouses suspicion in a number of aspects such as to whether the student climbed the tree on instructions of the Principal and as to who had given instructions to cover the blood stains which resulted thereby.

In the same way evidence has been received to the effect that the covering supposed to have been brought to collect the mangoes which have been plucked by students who were made to climb this tree has been thrown into the shrub jungle after the student fell down.

The student who faced injury on Friday evening during school-time was admitted to Rattota Hospital and was later sent to Matale General Hospital. As his condition was found serious, he was transferred to Kandy Hospital where he was prepared for an operation. However, before that he passed away.

What the doctors said was because of the serious injuries the student sustained he had passed away due to internal haemmorage.

The student Kasun Buddhika Ranatunga was a resident of Maussagala area, Dikkumbura, Rattota and was the youngest in a family of two children.

Initially,when the media made inquiries about this, according to what the Director of Education of Matale said was that the student had climbed the tree to pluck mangoes during a dengue-prevention campaign programme in school.

Rattota Police who conducted investigations in this regard on the 30th evening took the Principal of the school C.B.Hulangamuwa into custody. After being produced before courts on the 1st, yesterday, he was remanded until the 4th.