Daily NEWS Srilanka

Matara Roshan the chief suspect in the incident where a police officer was killed in Maspotha, Kurunegala in the month of November, 2016 having shot him dead had died this afternoon in Hambantota from gun-shots received after an exchange of shooting, it is understood. 

A special team of police officers had travelled from Colombo to Hambantota to nab this criminal known as D.K. Chaminda alias Matara Roshan. On the occasion when he was cornered a an exchange of gunfire between the two parties had taken place. In this instance the suspect was killed by police gunshots. During this battle 2 police officers have sustained injuries and by now they have been admitted to Hambantota Hospital.
Hambantota to nab this criminal known as D.K. Chaminda alias Matara Roshan. On the occasion when he was cornered a an exchange of gunfire between the two parties had taken place. In this instance the suspect was killed by police gunshots. During this battle 2 police officers have sustained injuries and by now they have been admitted to Hambantota Hospital. 

On the occasion when 3 police officers of Kurunegala Headquarters had gone to check a certain vehicle under suspicion parked at a hotel in Welagane, Maspotha, Kurunegala and 2 of those who were travelling in the vehicle had opened fire in which instance the sub-inspector had died while a police sergeant and a driver police constable sustained injury and had to be hospitalised. This firing had taken place last November 15th between 10.00 and 10.30 in the night. It was Sub Inspector Lansakara Herath Mudiyanselage Dassanayaka, a 59 year old living in Dharmapala Road, Nagolla, Wanduragala, Kurunegala who was attached to Kurunegala Police Headquarters who died from gunshot injuries. He was to retire in the month of March, 2017. 

2 individuals had come to the festival hall known as Paradise situated in Welagane area, Maspotha, Kurunegala on the day of the tragedy around 6.30 in the evening in a luxury type white-coloured Hybrid vehicle. These 2 persons who had come to this festival hall had requested for a room from the manager of the hotel to spend that night. Though a room was not given to spend the night since it was a festival hall, having assumed that they were respectable people the manager had provided them with a room for them to spend the night. These two visitors who wanted lodging had told the manager that they would be leaving the early morning the following day (16). 

In the meantime the Kurunegala Police Headquarters had police had received a phone call that night on the Emergency No. 119 in the form of a complaint from a rent-a-car company regarding a luxury car of the Hybrid-type and white in colour which had been stolen. The complaint further said that the said vehicle has been parked near a hotel in Maspotha area, Kurunegala according to a check carried out across GPS technology. There had been several owners of this vehicle and the last owner had been a rent-a-car firm. This vehicle had been rented out and had been taken away without being handed over to the firm. 

As such, Sub Inspector Dassanayaka, Police Sergeant Ubhayakoon Bandara and Police Constable cum Driver Subhasingha who were engaged in mobile patrol that night set off day-before-yesterday night towards Maspotha area in a police jeep. The police officers who arrived at Paradise Hotel in Maspotha where the said vehicle was parked could note the white-coloured Hybrid type vehicle. The police officers then informed hotel employees that they need to meet those who came in that vehicle. 

On contacting them they had shown relevant papers of the vehicle and their identity cards to the police officers. However, the sub-inspector and the 2 police officers had informed them that they wish to inspect the room where they were staying. When the room on the top floor of the festival hall was being inspected by the police officers and were engaged in this activity one of the suspects promptly removed a pistol from inside a travelling bag and had started firing non-stop and had fled with his colleague. The sub-inspector had sustained gunshots in his chest region and had succumbed when being taken to hospital. The police sergeant had sustained injury to one of his legs while the police constable cum driver had faced gunshots in his abdomen. 

On this occasion the 2 suspects had scaled a wall in the hotel about 3 feet in height and had managed to jump into a large piece of land where asbestos sheets were stored while in the process of their fleeing, police constable cum driver Subasingha who was already injured had pursued the suspects. He had on making contact with one of the suspects he had wrestled with him with the idea of arresting at least one of them. On that occasion his uniform too had got torn in the process and even his shoes and belt had fallen off. The suspect concerned had thus wrestled with the police officer and finally made a getaway with his colleague breaking a netted barbed-wire fence. The two of them who got across the fence had even though fallen into a somewhat shallow lake had managed to flee from there too. The pistol used to fire at the police officers was taken away by the other suspect who fled from the scene, it was revealed at police investigations. 

The suspect taken into police custody is a resident of Ratmalana, it is learned. It was he who had wrestled with the police constable cum driver and had tried to make his getaway, the police have been able to understand. This suspect is an underground member of Colombo known as 'Reha' and as he is connected to the incident of shooting down a person near Mahara Courts a few months before this and the police were able to find that he is hiding in Kandy area. After police having  uncovered information that he is in Kandy he had found lodging at this festival hall when returning to Colombo with a friend of his who was a former member of the Special Task Force resident in Matara. It was learned that it was this former member of the Special Task Force who had shot the sub-inspector and others. It was also revealed that he was an underground leader known as Matara Roshan. It was revealed at police investigations that he remained at the hotel until he received a telephone call from his wife who had gone to Kandy. Because of a clue they had sniffed of that it was risky for the suspect to remain in the rented out house in Kandy where he was remaining in hiding with his wife he had sent his wife to attend to matters related to removing household effects in the house to move away from the location they were residing. The suspect who sent his wife away to Kandy in the bus had found lodging at this hotel to set off to Kandy with his colleague by hiring a lorry from Kurunegala no soon that he received a call from his wife, it was reported at that time. 

Police have uncovered reasons which contributed this underworld leader to get involved in crime from the year 2002 as well as details of how he turned into a criminal and today's raid was conducted as a result of investigations carried out throughout the past.