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Mastermind Manjula Sandakelum who was taken into custody over the incident of abducting 4 year old Divindu Yashen Ekanayaka in Katugampola area in Meegalewa confessed in the presence of the CID officers: "To keep Divindu Baba .... we had to give extra food. When his stomach is full, he would sleep well. So we always gave him extra food and put him to sleep". The suspect further said that for fear that the
child so kidnapped would cry asking to go back to his parents, they had taken that precautionary measure.
He also confessed to the CID that he had withdrawn a sum of Rs. 35000 which he had deposited at the Samurdhi treasury with the purpose of launching this operation. The main suspect on this occasion Manjula Sandakelum who happened to have been the Secretary of the Samurdhi Bank was able to use his influence in robbing the said sum of Rs. 35000 and kidnap Divindu and to spend for the expenses to take care of him.
Manjula had decided to abduct this child and thus ask for a ransom because he had mortgaged his property and obtained a sum of Rs. 25 lakhs. For this reason alone Manjula was in serious financial difficulties. He had suddenly remembered an occasion where he had gone to see a bride in Meegalewa area in the company of a friend of his. Manjula recalled how the bride's father had told in public that he would gift a sum of 10 million for his daughter as dowry. It was because of that that he had launched his operations with the intention of getting that 10 million.
As such, he had confessed that he had made contact with 27 year old Chathuranga Kumara, 21 year old Sanjeewa Weerakoon and 23 year old Dinesh Priyasad. Manjua's first step was, he had revealed was to abduct the bride's elder sister's husband Mahinda Kumara Ekanayaka. The CID say that he had made preparations to carry out this operation a month before.
For this purpose Manjula had bought 2 Rambo knives, and some clothing required, utilising the monies robbed from the Samurdhi Bank. What he had told his accomplices was on immediate arrival at the house concerned to point the knife at Mahinda and after tying up his hands and feet, to plug cloth into his mouth and to carry out the kidnapping.
In the process he had bought a house in Ambanpola which incidentally was necessary for his plans and that was for Rs. 20000. This house had been bought by Manjula a month back and he had told the householders that he would live in that house for 6 months.
Subsequently they had barged into Mahinda's house around 8.45 on the night of 28th and that was with the motive of abducting Mahinda. Though they had shown the knife and scared Mahinda at that point, they had also thought that there is no point in kidnapping him. Manjula then revealed that they had instead abducted the child Dinindu Yashen who was near Mahinda.
After kidnapping Dinindu, they had come to the Ambepola house on the motor-bike passing a distance of about 23 kms.
Later, the following day Manjula had spoken to Dininda's father Mahinda and asked for the sum of 10 million. Manjula had told that if the cash asked for was given, the child would be released. Though they had said so, since the monies was in possession of the father-in-law a call had been made to Dininda's grandfather by Manjula asking the sum of 10 million from him.
In this manner, Meegalewa Police was informed about this ransom asked for. However, as Meegalewa Police were not in a position to make a technical investigation so quickly, they had been seriously handicapped. In the meantime the gang had constantly been contacting the child's grandfather Mr. Punchi Banda over the phone.
The Hon. President who happened to observe news over this incident over the printed as well as the electronic media had phoned the IGP Mr. N.K. Ilangakoon early in the morning of 31st and had ordered him to hand over the investigations to the Criminal Investigation Department.
Accordingly the IGP had promptly handed over the case to the CID. For the purpose of this fresh investigation, a team of 20 police officers including a Police Superintendent, an ASP and a Police Inspector were recruited. However, only the team including the Inspector of Police had gone to Meegalewa area while the Superintendent of Police and ASP had stationed themselves in Colombo making investigations on the telephone connections, communicating with the Ministry of Security.
As such, on 31st night the team of police personnel who arrived in Meegalewa had begun to interrogate the householders. Initially they had questioned Dinindu's father, mother, grandfather and relatives separately until 3 o'clock in the morning. At this stage the CID were able to gather old stories too, regarding this issue from the householders.
During this period Manjula had been communicating with Dinindu's grandfather over the phone continuously. On every such occasion the sum of 10 million had been asked if the child is to be released, On instructions given by the CID, Dinindu's grandfather had discussed with the suspects in reducing the ransom money. On such occasions the grandfather had said that he does not have such an amount of money in his hand and that he could afford only 35 lakhs. As such, the suspects had finally agreed to that sum of money. Apart from that they had forbidden Dinindu's grandfather from mentioning anything about the deal to the police. Under these circumstances Manjula had asked Dinindu's grandfather to come to Ehetuwawa area early on the morning of 1st bringing the 35 lakhs with him.
As such, though he had been asked to come to 7 places on that date, the suspects had not turned up. Ultimately the grandfather had told the suspects that he was being cheated and therefore he specifically wants to know whether the child is living and under such circumstances to make arrangements for him to speak to the child.
On the request of the grandfather in the end Dinindu was given the phone to converse with the grandfather. At that point the grandfather had asked, "Puthe .... what is putha's name? Dinindu has replied that question. The grandfather had after that asked, "Putha .... do you know who's speaking here"? Then small Dinindu had recognised that it was his grandfather. The grandfather finally had asked particulars about the food given etcetera. However the grandfather had told the CID officers that this was not his nephew and that it was the voice of a woman.
The CID who were astounded by this revelation had then taken a call to to the suspected party and that was by Inspector of Police, Mr. Nishantha Silva. He had acted as Dinindu's father and had said that he wishes to see the child if the 35 lakhs is to be given. However the suspects have not agreed to this proposition. Instead they had replied saying that on behalf of proof that the child is among the living, the child's 'panchayudaya' round his neck and the Bo leaf would be kept at a certain location. The suspects in the end had finalised the agreement to keep the 2 pieces of jewellery near a religious statue. At the same time the suspects had requested that the relevant sum of money too be placed at the same location. As such, the said cash was prepared in the form of dummy notes. At the same time the CID had taken care to install security cameras close to the religious statue. However, the suspects had prior to that left the said 'panchayudaya' and the Bo leaf in the said position and left.
In the end, though the CID had taken a call to the suspects once more, there had been no response. Once the 'panchayudaya' was recovered the CID had suspected that the culprits were hanging around that area. As such, the mobile phones of the suspects were subjected to scrutiny. On that occasion it was confirmed that one phone was from Galgamuwa area.
Accordingly the CID launched an operation that night itself to locate the spot from where the call originated. According to that information, the first suspect Sanjeewa Weerakoon was taken into custody. Sanjeewa who was thus under arrest was made use of by the CID for their second move in their operations. It was to give phone calls to the other suspects through Sanjeewa.
"Machan .... got the money .... drop the small fellow home," so saying a call was given to Manjula by Sanjeewa. Even by that time Manjula with his other 3 accomplices had stationed themselves in a rock cave at Aaranya Senasana in Galgiriyagama. They had accordingly come to Meegalewa carrying Dinindu on the motor-bike. While on the way what Manjula had said was that if they go to the child's house with the child, they would get nabbed by the police and therefore to drop the child somewhere else.
As such, the suspects had stopped the motor-bike near a house close to 18th milepost and had told the child, "Puthe .... appachchi is there inside the house .... go inside the house".
The suspects after leaving the child by the wayside had then come to Embogama house. Even by that time the CID who had surrounded the house took the others into custody including the knives, gloves, face-coverings etcetera. That was at about 10.30 in the night.
What the suspects had told was that the child was living happily with them. In the same way, Manjula the main suspect had said that since he too had a child, he had felt sorry for the child and had treated him with affection.
The suspects said that they had met face to face while engaged in the operations in Meegalewa area during operations.
They had revealed that during the period when they were hiding with the child, one of the suspects had remained at home while the other three had gone for various jobs of theirs. They admitted however that they had at all times attended to the safety of the child and the food given to him at every moment.
The main suspect in this case, Manjula had made a decision to pay off the loan of Rs. 25 lakhs and the Rs. 35000 robbed from Samurdhi from the ransom money he would take from the child. The ransom-seekers had also bought some dress items from Galgamuwa for this child and that was to keep the child in good hygenic condition. The police have also been able to find 5 empty packets of milk from the cave where the child was kept hidden for the final time last evening of the 3rd. The suspects have confessed that those were packets of milk brought as food for the child in the final stages.
Detention orders were secured after they were produced before courts day-before-yesterday (02) afternoon. Further investigations are being conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department.
Information -- Gayan Gallage