A 21-year-old youth was stabbed to death after being denied the mortgaged phone.

A young man was stabbed to death with a sharp knife on the Vanni Palugollawa main road, following an escalating dispute that originated from an incident involving the pawning of a mobile phone for money. The victim of this attack, which occurred on the 12th, was 21-year-old Piyasirige Lakindu Lakshan, a resident of Gambirigaswewa, Vanni Palugollawa.

The altercation between the deceased young man and the suspect, which arose when the former went to retrieve a pawned mobile phone, ended with both stabbing each other with sharp knives.

Lakindu Lakshan, who sustained serious injuries in the attack, was immediately admitted to Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries while receiving treatment.

The 19-year-old main suspect, a resident of the same area and connected to this murder, as well as the 29-year-old suspect who allegedly provided the knife for the attack, have both been arrested by the Parasangaswewa Police.

The two arrested suspects were scheduled to be produced before the court yesterday (13), and further investigations into the incident are being conducted under the direction of Parasangaswewa Police Station OIC, Police Inspector M. Anwardeen.