J’pura student’s death ruled to be a suicide

JMO of the Panadura Hospital Dr Shiva Subramaniam, who had earlier decided that the student had drowned, had changed his ruling

The death of Mahavitagamage Lalith Guneratne, a student of the Economics section of the Management Faculty of the Sri Jayawardenapura University was ruled to have been a suicide, by the Panadura Hospital Inquirer into Sudden Deaths, L N Kuruppu.

The student’s body had been found floating in the Bolgoda Lake near the Panadura Bridge. The JMO of the Panadura Hospital Dr Shiva Subramaniam, who had earlier decided that the student had drowned, had changed his ruling after hearing the evidence given by the parents of the student and a colleague, who ruled that the student had committed suicide due to stress and mental derangement. It had been found that the student had been receiving treatment for mental sickness and that failing his final year exam had aggravated his condition and this had driven him suicide.