Police have launched an investigation into the deaths of a member of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, who had served as the Opposition Leader of the Yatinuwara Pradeshiya Sabha, along with his wife and elder daughter.
Initial investigations suggest that the councilor may have taken his own life due to a financial dispute involving another individual. According to a tip received via the emergency hotline, police found the bodies this morning at the family’s two-story home in Yahalatenna, Yatinuwara.
The councilor was found hanging at a temporary structure behind the house. His wife and elder daughter were found dead in two separate rooms—one on the upper floor and the other on the lower floor.
While the cause of death for the wife and daughter is still unclear, police suspect that the councilor may have given them sleeping pills the night before and later strangled them.
The couple’s younger daughter, a 12-year-old, had returned home late that night after a school trip. She later told police that her father had also given her a pill. She said she woke up early morning feeling pressure around her neck and saw her father trying to strangle her with a wire. She managed to escape after struggling with him.
She said her father then told her he was going to the bathroom but instead went outside. Moments later, she heard a noise and discovered he had hanged himself.
During the investigation, police also found a four-page letter believed to have been written by the deceased councilor. In it, he reportedly wrote:
“Vijesinghe, may you be cursed… You constantly threatened to kill me if I didn’t sell the house. One day, you even came near my daughter’s school, grabbed her by the collar, and dragged her home to force me to sign the papers. When I refused, you hit me on the head with an iron rod. The scar is still on my forehead.”
A magistrate from Kandy carried out a formal inquest this morning. The bodies have been taken to Peradeniya Hospital for postmortem examinations. The Peradeniya Police are continuing their investigations.
Leave a comment