Eraj Fernando hanged himself to death

The body of Mr. Eraj Ravindra Fernando, former Mayor of the Hambantota Municipal Council, has been found in a house in the Bambalapitiya area. Police and local media reports confirm that Mr. Fernando, who was 57 years old at the time of his death, was found hanged.

This incident is suspected to be a suicide, and the police have initiated a post-mortem examination and extensive investigations to ascertain the cause of death and the specific circumstances surrounding it.

Mr. Eraj Fernando, an alumnus of Nalanda College, Colombo, was first elected as the Mayor of Hambantota in 2014, representing the United People's Freedom Alliance. Subsequently, in the 2018 local government elections, he was re-elected to the same position with the support of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. On February 10, 2022, he resigned from both the mayoral and municipal councilor positions, citing personal reasons. 

He played a prominent and active role in political activities related to the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport and Hambantota Port, which were built in the Hambantota region, a key political stronghold of the Rajapaksa family.

The most talked-about and nationally significant incident in his political career was reported on April 17, 2014. A group of United National Party Members of Parliament, including Eran Wickramaratne, Ajith P. Perera, Ajith Mannapperuma, Nalin Bandara, and R. Yogarajan, along with journalists, who were engaged in an observation tour of the Mattala Airport and Hambantota Port premises, were protested against by a group of local residents and port workers who pelted them with stones and eggs. During this incident, Mr. Eraj Fernando was video-recorded by the media chasing after the MPs while pointing a firearm he was holding towards them. He later claimed it was a toy pistol, and 

although he later stated that he had gone to the scene to rescue the MPs from the attack, the incident caused significant controversy. In August 2019, the Hambantota High Court delivered its verdict in the case filed regarding this incident, sentencing him to five years of rigorous imprisonment and imposing a fine. He was later released on bail after filing an appeal.

Additionally, in March 2014, he was arrested in 2015 in connection with an incident where he allegedly assaulted and attempted to abduct a suspect held at the Ambalantota Police Station, and was later released on bail. Furthermore, in December 2014, during the presidential election campaign, he and several others were arrested after surrendering to the police in connection with an incident involving an attack on the "Street Protest" street play group and an opposition protest near the Hambantota bus stand. Singer Jayathilaka Bandara, Prasanga Fernando, and journalist Sampath Samarakoone, among others, were injured in that assault.

Another major chapter in his legal background is the alleged corruption charge that occurred during his tenure as Chairman of the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment (Sathosa). 

Between 2010 and 2014, the Bribery Commission had filed five cases against him, former Minister of Trade Johnston Fernando, and Kaja Mohideen Mohamed Shakir, who served as a director, on charges of causing a loss of nearly sixty million rupees to the government by deploying Sathosa employees for non-official political activities and paying their salaries and overtime allowances from the corporation's funds. 

A five-member bench of the Court of Appeal, which nullified a previous order by the Colombo High Court to acquit the defendants in these cases, ordered the High Court to re-hear all five cases.