Sang songs out of fear while carrying the dead body - Champika's confession

The killer looked at her countless times as she sat in the front seat of the car, a guest, with her seatbelt on and the seat slightly reclined. As her dead body was being taken away from near the Peradeniya Bridge at midnight, he hummed songs to ward off the great fear he felt in his heart.

A horrific story has been uncovered by Nuwara Eliya Headquarters Police investigations: a young woman named Darshani Ratnayake Pathirana, a physiotherapist at Ampara Hospital who sacrificed everything she had for a fictitious Canadian dream, was strangled to death in a Nuwara Eliya hotel room by her boyfriend, a fake software engineer. After the murder, her body was taken to the Kundasale area, and there were plans to burn it at a crematorium near the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium to destroy evidence forever. However, at the last moment, this plan was thwarted, forcing the suspect to abandon the car containing the dead body in the Teldeniya Hospital car park.

While Darshani's life, which had ended prematurely after she gave her boyfriend 15 million rupees with a strong desire to go abroad and resigned from her hospital job at his own request, the killer also became cunning in misleading her family members. With the intention of burning the body and keeping this a permanent secret, the suspect called her sister, who lives at her elder brother's house in Lunugamvehera, and told her that he had arrived at Katunayake Airport to go to Canada with Darshani. Although he made a strong effort to convince the family that both had gone abroad, the post-mortem report revealed that her death was a homicide caused by strangulation.

It has been revealed that a garbage truck driver from the Kundasale Pradeshiya Sabha and a Chief Police Inspector who worked at the Kundasale Police Training College also aided and abetted in concealing this heinous crime and helping the suspect and his mistress hide. Following this revelation, they too have been arrested on suspicion. The suspect had repeatedly given money generously to the Pradeshiya Sabha driver, based on a friendship formed during garbage collection visits. Mobile phone analysis reports have also revealed that the Chief Police Inspector, who had known this driver since his time as the OIC of Menikhinna Police, had advised the killer to remain hidden until the full report was received.

The suspect, who arrived from Nuwara Eliya, came to the Pradeshiya Sabha driver's house in Digana Rajawella with his mistress and three children seated in the back seat of the dark-windowed car containing the dead body. Later, he left the car at Teldeniya Hospital and returned on the driver's motorcycle. After hiding there for two days, they later went to the Narammala area in the driver's car and handed over two children, aged 8 and 5, to the killer's 79-year-old elderly mother. However, after that, the suspect and his 33-year-old mistress, a resident of Horambawa, Narammala, fearing recognition, dressed in face masks and burqas, spent over two hundred thousand rupees, and traveled day and night by bus from Wellawatte to Jaffna and back from Jaffna to Wellawatte, attempting to evade police surveillance.

Based on a confidential tip received by Director of Panadura Walana Anti-Corruption Strike Force, Superintendent of Police Rohan Olugala, a team including OIC Chief Police Inspector Indika Weerasinghe tracked the bus using technical methods. Subsequently, acting on information from Inspector General of Police (Attorney-at-Law) Priyantha Weerasuriya and Jaffna Senior Superintendent of Police J.P.S. Jayamaha, a team including OIC Chief Police Inspector Prematilake of the Jaffna Divisional Criminal Investigation Unit searched the bus arriving from Wellawatte in the Kaitadi area of Jaffna and arrested the suspects along with a four-year-old infant in their possession. Later, a team including Police Inspector Chathuranga of the Walana Anti-Corruption Force conducted preliminary investigations and handed them over to the Nuwara Eliya Headquarters Police for further investigations.

During police questioning, the suspect stated that he had married his mistress a year ago, but he did not know any details about a marriage certificate. Due to his previous inhumane abuse, his legal wife had divorced him and gone to work in Japan, and with this heinous incident, the innocent eight-year-old girl's schooling has also been permanently stopped. Furthermore, as the elderly mother refused to take custody of the four-year-old child taken into police custody, the future of the children has also become highly uncertain. Under the full supervision of Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police for Central Province, Lalith Pathinayake, and Deputy Inspector General of Police for Nuwara Eliya District, Jagath Chandrasiri, and under the instructions of Senior Superintendent of Police Samarakoon Banda and Assistant Superintendent of Police Chandana Basnayake, a team of officers including Nuwara Eliya Headquarters Police OIC Chaminda Sanjeewa, Nishantha Bandara, and Premalal are currently conducting extensive investigations.

Her beautiful Canadian dream, imagined with 15 million rupees, ultimately became an unfulfillable, horrific tragedy, forever silenced inside a dark-windowed car in the Teldeniya Hospital car park.