The CID has found that the retired Army Intelligence Unit Sergeant Major Ilandarige Edirisinghe Jayammane who was found hanging from a rafter in his home recently with a suicide note confessing to the killing of former Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunga was actually at his home when the killing took place in 2009.
The CID investigators who continued their probe into the suicide note and the details of the reports on the use of Jayamanne’s mobile number have found that his movements were restricted to his home and surroundings on the day of killing of Wickrematunga.
With the verification of phone records confirming his presence at home on January 08, 2009 the day Wickramatunga was killed, police are now confronted with a major problem with regard to the content of the letter allegedly written by Jayamanne before him committing suicide.
Jayammane’s body was exhumed by police last Wednesday following an order by Kegalle Magistrate Gayan Megahage.
The Magistrate ordered that the body be exhumed and fingerprints of the deceased be obtained.
The order was given consequent to a complaint by the CID that they needed the fingerprints of the deceased for its investigations into the killing of Wickrematunga.
The Judicial Medical Officer who conducted the inquest on the former soldier ordered police to obtain the fingerprints of the deceased, but the police did not carry out the order.
The CID informed the Magistrate that they needed the fingerprints of the deceased to ascertain whether they would match with the prints found on the vehicle of Wickrematunga on the day of his killing.
The body of Jayamanne was buried at the Karandupana Puwakdeniya General Cemetery on Oct. 16.
His body was found hanging from a rafter of his home at Karandupana, Kegalle on Oct 14. A note believed to have been written by the retired sergeant major read in Sinhala: "It was I who killed Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, My friend Malinda Udalagama, who has been arrested for it is not responsible for the murder. Please release him."
The retired sergeant major was a father of three and his wife was working abroad, police said. The second son of the retired soldier was to leave the country to attend a sports event. He had accompanied the son to the latter’s school and returned home after handing over the boy to the school authorities. His eldest son was not at home attending to his work while the youngest child was in school.
According to the preliminary investigations Jayamanne hanged himself from a rafter in his home around 8.30 am on Oct 14. A neighbour, a trishaw driver first saw Jayamanne hanging. He informed the Kegalle police of the incident. Police arrived at the Jayamanne’s house and brought the body down. The police found the note written by Jayamanne on a table near his body. Police sources said that Jayamanne’s son had identified that it was his father’s hand writing.
Two special police teams have been assigned two separate investigations into the mysterious death.
