HAD FOUND BAG WITH CORPSE WHEN SEARCHING FOR BAG OF COUPLE WHO CAME FROM ABROAD

HAD FOUND BAG WITH CORPSE WHEN SEARCHING FOR BAG OF COUPLE WHO CAME FROM ABROAD 

BLOOD ON EAR AND FOREHEAD

WAS THE VICTIM A HOUSEMAID IN A COLOMBO HOUSE?

Further information has been unearthed about the female corpse which was found inside a bag of

which the owner was not known. It was found this morning in Pettah at the private bus terminal down Bastian Mawatha.

The police who investigated the incident had to solve a problem as to how that bag was found. The incident as reported is as follows:

                            A couple who had been overseas had arrived in the island early morning today from Katunayaka Airport and had come in a bus to Pettah bus halt with the idea of going to Anuradhapura. A young man who was waiting for a moment when they were to alight from the bus had told them, "difficult to carry them isn't it .... I am also going to take the bus to Anuradhapura .... I'll help you to carry this".  So saying the young man had asked for one of their bags.  Thus they had allowed this youth whom they met on the way, to help them.

Whatever it is, this couple who got trapped by this trickster after walking some distance found that he had vanished with their bag. The owner said that there were items in that bag to the value of Rs. one and a half lakhs. Having lost the bag the couple who were rendered helpless had been telling those whom they met at the Anuradhapura bus-halt of their predicament of having lost their bag. In the process a middle-age man who was engaged in mobile business activities was on his way to a boutique to have his breakfast before starting his work and had casually come across this couple who were faced with the problem of their lost bag. This person having heard about what they said had searched around the place for the bag with the intention of helping the couple. However at the start he had not been able to find the bag concerned. Then having proceeded to have his breakfast had later come back and once more tried to look for the lost bag when he happened to notice a bag and a manure sack near Anuradhapura bus-halt. This person who went near that place then had started inquiring in a loud voice as to who the owners of these were. Ultimately it was found that the manure sack which was full of books in it had belonged to a man selling books. The owner of this sack had said that it belonged to him and had lifted it and carried it but had said that he does not know to whom the bag near the sack belonged to. The mobile trader who looked around having once more inquired about the owner of the bag and after understanding that there was no claimant for it, seeing the couple who were still staying there the mobile vendor had finally asked them to come over there and had inquired whether the bag found lying there belonged to them. The couple having examined the said bag noticing that it was bigger in size than the bag they were looking for had replied immediately that it was not their's. In that instance the mobile vendor who thought of examining the bag without an owner had got together with another trading-friend of his and had tried to open the bag from one corner. They had initially noticed something like a pillow and some clothing inside it. Later when they had tried to pull it out they were struck with surprise to suddenly see that there was a corpse too inside the bag. They had then shouted out in fear and a police officer who was on duty in the vicinity had been notified about this. The police officer after having come there and examining it had handed over this matter to a Pettah police team to investigate about it.

After noting down its markings and the post-mortem activities were conducted, it was concluded that the woman who was found dead inside had been murdered. Blood stains were found around her hair, neck and ears. A gold necklace was found around her neck intact and the pendant hanging on it had borne the 'Om' symbol, the police detected. There is also a suspicion that had emerged as to whether she had worked as a housemaid in some house and that she appeared to be a Tamil female and she has had a dot on her forehead. What the police say is that she could be someone aged between 32 to 40 years. Her height was 5 feet and 2 inches.

Her body had been folded in two and stuck inside a bag 3 feet in length and 2 feet wide with 1 foot high and about half of her body was covered with a woman's clothing. The other clothing is suspected to be those that have been worn by her. No information has still been uncovered as to who she is and from where she had come. CCTV investigations too are being conducted to ascertain as to who had brought the dead body there.

The police are asking for public support to identify the corpse of the woman. Some photographs of the dead body taken this afternoon have been released to the media for this purpose and they could be seen below.