Fourth suspect surrenders over van attack in Kalagedihena
July 20, 2019 03:56 pm
Another suspect has surrendered to police in connection with the attack on a van by several VIP bodyguards at Kalagedihena, bringing the total number of arrests over the incident to four.
The Police Spokesman’s Office said that a suspect who had traveled in the Defender involved in the incident surrendered to the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) this afternoon.
He has been identified as Wedisinghe Arachchige Sandun Pushpakumara, 44, a resident of Thalgasdola.
Two suspects had surrendered to the CCD yesterday while another was arrested after he surrendered this morning.
All four arrested suspects are to be produced before the Attanagalla Magistrate’s Court later today (20).
The Colombo Crime Division is conducting further investigations into the incident, police said.
Meanwhile police yesterday found the Defender vehicle, involved in the attack, at a residence in Maharagama.
The driver of the Defender and another individual were arrested after the duo surrendered to CCD.
The Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chandana Wickremaratne yesterday (19) directed the CCD to investigate into the incident.
A video recorded on a mobile phone had been widely circulated on social media recently depicting a group of individuals, dressed in white shirts and believed to be VIP security officers, arriving in a white Defender and Prado and attacking a van in the middle of the road at Kalagedihena on the Colombo-Kandy main road.
The driver of the van said that the two vehicles in question came from behind him at high speeds and blocked his vehicle in the middle of the road before several individuals in white shirts got out of the vehicles and attacked his van door demanding that he step out.
He also said that they were dressed in clothing similar to VIP security personnel and that there were two other individuals sitting in the backseat of the Prado.
The incident was captured on a mobile phone by one of the passengers inside the van while the footage also shows the license plates (CAG-0550/CAD-8850) of the two vehicles involved.
Ada Derana learns that the Prado (CAG-0550) is registered under the name of Dinesh Nuwan Amaratunga from Ingiriya while the Defender (CAD-8850) is registered under a certain Udam Indula Sampath Bandara Amaratunga also from Ingiriya.
