The retired army officer who hung himself last morning after claiming responsibility for the murder of Lasantha Wickremetunga had been previously arrested, sources said.
The Criminal Investigation Division of the Police opened investigation into the case, and initial findings revealed the retired officer had been previously arrested for maintaining a safe house stocked with weapons at Millennium City.
The body of the 51-year-old retired officer was found yesterday, together with a note confessing he had committed the murder of Lasantha Wickremetunga.
Lasantha was murdered on January 8, 2009, after he was set upon by armed men on his way to work, as the Editor-in-Chief of the Sunday Leader.
Intelligence officer Prema Ananda Udulagama was arrested in this connection, earlier this year. He is also prime suspect in the assault on another Editor – Upali Tennekoon of the Rivira and Divaina newspapers, no less than two weeks after the murder of Lasantha Wickremetunga.
Tennakoon left the country in the aftermath of the attack by armed men, but was recalled in August to successfully identify Prema Ananda Udulagama from a line-up.
Illandarige Jayamanne, the officer who took his life yesterday, after claiming it was he who killed Lasantha, not Prema Ananda Udulagama, had asked in his note that ‘his friend’ Prema Ananda Udulagama be released.
Illandarige Jayamanne had retired from service in 2007.
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