WASIM THAJUDEEN'S MURDERERS TO BE ARRESTED AFTER 17TH

WASIM THAJUDEEN'S MURDERERS TO BE ARRESTED AFTER 17TH

INVESTIGATIONS TOO INTO RED CROSS JEEP IN WHICH WASIM WENT TO

SUPERMARKET AND SEEN ON CCTV!

The body of deceased rugger player Wasim Thajudeen was exhumed this morning from the location

where he was buried. The police had decided that he died of a road accident during the past regime and had put a stop to further investigations; but but the new regime after inquiring into it found that it was a case of murder and relations of Wasim too had shown fear to discuss about this incident, it was said.

This young rugger player Mohammed Wasim Thajudeen was living down Murugan Road, Wellawatta. Wasim who played for Havelock Sports Club was in fact an Old Boy of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. Wasim who joined the Sri Lanka National team in the year 2008 later became the captain of the team and in the year 2009 he was able to win the Caltex Award for the Most Popular Rugger Player. This is what his rugger coach spoke to the media about it:

"As a player he was in the forefront. He had cordial relationships with everybody. He loved the flag of Sri Lana a lot. He played with dedication for his country. He had a small problem with his knee. Because of that he was not able to play for 2 years. It was a shock for his comrades to hear of his sudden departure on May 16th in 2012.

On the evening of the incident Wasim had left his house saying that he was going to attend a party of a friend of his in Narahenpita. But what the householders came to hear on the morning of May 17th was that he had speeded his vehicle and was unable to control the vehicle and had thus crashed onto a wall in Narahenpita area with the vehicle going up in flames as a result of which he had died. It was subsequently reported that Wasim who was at the driving seat was caught in the fire and reduced to ashes. The police on this occasion without any investigation had reported it as a death which occured consequent to a road accident. It was noted that the vehicle had strayed across the road and after having struck a wall had gone up in flames as the vehicle had gone out of control had thus resulted in Wasim's death and apart from that there had been no other investigations carried out, it was understood.

Websites had reported at that time that this death was suspicious. Whatever it is, it was understood that because of influence from higher officials the incident had submerged, and the relatives had kept mum, it was learned. Though the wallet of Wasim was found some kilometres away from the location where his body was recovered after the accident in Kirullapone area it could have aroused the suspicion of the police; but there was no investigation carried out in that respect. It was said that though he was beyond identification as the body of Wasim was reduced to charcoal since the vehicle had totally gone up in flames, it was possible to identify the deceased from the iron rod inserted on his ailing foot, it was understood.

What Mr. Nishantha Pieris, Colombo Additional Magistrate instructed after the day of the incident was to forward a report of inquiry to courts in relation to the incident concerned. After the new government came into power what the police said in March 2015 was that the judicial report of Wasim the rugger player was received only about two and a half years later. According to certain data available on it the police mentioned that whether Wasim's death had actually occured from a road accident or not is not definite. As a consequence, investigations into the death of Wasim was handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department. What was revealed at those investigations about the death of Wasim was a contradiction between the report of the Government Analyst and the Judicial Medical Report. This meant that a suspicion had cropped up whether some report had been changed for some reason on instructions of somebody. As such, the police recorded statements from Judicial Medical Officers who conducted the post-mortem of Wasim. According to those reports, they were able to find that Wasim Thajudeen had been murdered having been tortured and that his teeth, ribs and his feet had been broken while his neck had been stabbed with a sharp instrument.

Reports were published that Wasim was murdered because of an entanglement over a love affair and it was later reported by websites that the incident was associated with former President's son Yoshitha's previous girl friend Yasara Abeynaika. In the meantime it was also reported that Wasim's murder was committed by employing a group of persons attached to the Security Division. As there are factors to say that Thajudeen was murdered with his teeth being broken, with the ribs being broken, with bones of the thighs on his legs being broken and his neck being stabbed with a sharp instrument and being assaulted by a blunt instrument as reported to Colombo Additional Magistrate Mr. Nishantha Pieris by the Criminal Investigation Department some days ago, it was requested that the body be exhumed once more and investigations be resumed.

Therefore the body was exhumed today (10). At the time the body was exhumed, it was found that as the person who attended to the final burial procedures of the body that day said exactly, the dead body had been turned towards the right-side and that the part of the body that was burnt was wrapped with 11 metres of white cloth and wax cloth with the face being covered. Those parts were directed to a postmortem judicial medical examination.

In the process, according to a report in The Sunday Times Newspaper, statements have been obtained from a former fiancee of the deceased as well as Director of the Sri Lanka Red Cross, Jagath Abeysingha by the Criminal Investigation Department over investigations being conducted in relation to this death. The Director of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society has been subjected to interrogation because suspicion has been aroused as there is a connection between the death of Thajudeen and a vehicle of the Land Rover Defender type. What the Director-General of the Red Cross Society, Tissa Abeywickrema said was that the said vehicle had been given for the use of a non-governmental organisation established by a member of an affluent family. It is however not clear as to why and how a vehicle belonging to the Red Cross Society which is in operation in Sri Lanka as an institution noted for providing relief duty throughout a number of years has been given for use for a member of an affluent family.

The Criminal Investigation Officers were able to establish the connection between Wasim's disappearance and this vehicle concerned after examining the security camera tape recprdings of a supermarket in Havelock Road area which spot the deceased had visited prior to that. It was stated in the Judicial Medical Report issued in 2012 that there were signs that Wasim had been assaulted on the head with a club and that some of his teeth were missing in the assault and that a number of bones of his thigh were broken. This report however did not receive much recognition. The Criminal Investigation Department has launched investigations to find as to what type of person has endeavoured to cover up the report.

In the meantime it is expected to obtain a statement from the Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police who directed the State Investigations Team regarding the death of Wasim Thajudeen. According to information revealed so far, it is scheduled to arrest the suspects involved after August 17th.