Saman Priyantha alias “Chuti Kapuwa”, who was the caretaker of the Kataragama Maha Devala was arrested over the missing 38-pound gold bowl offered to Kataragama Maha Devala after he surrendered to Police yesterday (19).
A senior Police officer said that statements were taken and recorded from the suspect for over two hours.
A senior Police officer said that there is no information thus far about the Chief Kapuwa of Kataragama Maha Devala, Somipala T. Ratnayake, who is the main suspect over the missing gold bowl.
Police said that although Colombo Crime Division officers went to Kataragama to arrest the suspects on December11, they had to return to Colombo empty-handed as they were not present at their residences.
A senior Police officer said that both of them had gone to Colombo for medical treatment and that the owners of the houses where the two suspects live in Kataragama would inform the Colombo Crime Division team after their arrival.
Abeysinghe Nisansala, the wife of Maddumage Lasantha Chandana Perera known as Angoda Lokka, an organized criminal and drug trafficker who died in India, has inscribed his son’s name on a gold bowl weighing 38 pounds, commensurate with Angoda Lokka’s age and had offered to the Kataragama Maha Devala on July 3, 2019.
It has been revealed through Police investigations that the person who was in charge of the Theva at the time of the offering of the gold bowl was Chief Kapuwa Somipala T. Ratnayake, the suspect wanted for the arrest.
Investigations have revealed that the offered gold bowl had been moved into the Chief Kapuwa’s room after about two weeks.
Following an anonymous phone call to the Kataragama Basnayake Nilame that the gold bowl offered by the wife of Angoda Lokka was missing from the Kataragama Devale, he complained to the then Inspector General and the then Senior Deputy Inspector General in charge of the Western Province, the present Acting Inspector General Deshabandu Tennakoon, who gave instructions to the Colombo Crimes Division to conduct an immediate investigation over the missing gold bowl.
A senior Police officer said that at the same time as the investigations commenced, a similar looking gold bowl was made and kept in the Devala by paying Rs. 41 lakhs to the goldsmith who had made the previous gold bowl in an attempt to mislead Police investigations.
Regarding the disappearance of the 38-pound gold bowl offered by a devotee to the historic Kataragama Maha Devala, the Colombo Crimes Division had reported facts to the Tissamaharama Court and then requested the Attorney General’s advice. The arrested suspect is to be produced before the Tissamaharama Court. On the instructions of Acting Inspector General Deshabandhu Tennakoon, Colombo Crime Division Director ASP Neville de Silva and Chief Inspector Anselm de Silva, a team including Unit One OIC, IP S.P.J.Nishantha is conducting further investigations.
Varuna Dayaratne