During preliminary interrogations of Ousmand Gunasekera, also known as “Gampaha Ousmand,” who was arrested in connection with the murder of “Ganemulla Sanjeewa,” it was revealed that he had been managing the local money laundering operations of underworld figure “Kehelbaddara Padme.”

Ousmand Gunasekera was arrested on May 13 by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) for allegedly providing the firearm used in the murder of ‘Ganemulla Sanjeewa’.

At the time of his arrest at his residence on Sri Bodhi Road in Gampaha, police discovered a foreign-manufactured repeater shotgun, 10 rounds of live ammunition, and two ammunition magazines in his possession.

Following his arrest, the CCD detained and interrogated the suspect for 72 hours. Upon the expiration of the initial detention period, the CCD today (16) obtained permission to detain and question him for a further 90 days.

Interrogations have reportedly revealed that the suspect maintained a close relationship with ‘Kehelbaddara Padme’, the prime suspect in the murder of Ganemulla Sanjeewa. 

Police investigations further disclosed that the duo had ‘staged’ a long-running bitter feud between themselves in an attempt to mislead both the public and the police.

Investigating officers have now established that, despite claims that ‘Kehelbaddara Padme’ had issued death threats against ‘Gampaha Ousmand’, no such threats actually existed.

Additionally, it was revealed that previous incidents in which Padme’s henchmen were arrested by police while allegedly preparing to assassinate ‘Gampaha Ousmand’ had been entirely orchestrated.

Investigators also uncovered that ‘Gampaha Ousmand’ was fully responsible for managing Padme’s money laundering operations within Sri Lanka, using his own business enterprises to carry out these activities.

While previous interrogations of ‘Kehelbaddara Padme’ by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) regarding the murder of ‘Ganemulla Sanjeewa’ had yielded no information about Ousmand, significant details emerged during the recent questioning of “Batuwatte Chamara,” who was extradited to Sri Lanka from Azerbaijan.

Most notably, investigators learned during the interrogation that ‘Gampaha Ousmand’ had provided the firearm used in the assassination of ‘Ganemulla Sanjeewa’.

Further investigations are currently underway under the direct supervision of Colombo District Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG).