FOR WHOM WAS THE PIT IN THE HOUSE?

The Mirihana Police arrested a man who is alleged to have dug up a pit in his house for the suspected purpose of burying the bodies of a woman with whom he was carrying on for some time and their six-week-old child at Wellantudawa in Millaniya.

Police launched an investigation on a complaint by the woman that her former lover had assaulted her.

The man had also made a complaint that his wife was missing from home leaving the infant with him

Meanwhile the man had also made a complaint that his wife was missing from home leaving the infant with him.

The police arrested him on his wife’s complaint after they found a seven-foot deep and three foot wide pit with a noose hanging over it. According to the complaint the man had often assaulted the woman.

Police said they had reason to believe that the man might have dug the pit with the intention of killing the woman and the infant and burying their bodies in it.

Investigations revealed that the woman had a 22year-old son and a 12-yearold daughter from her first marriage and that they were also living under the same roof.

A senior police official said it was surprising why the others in the household had kept silent when the pit was being dug.

He said it was still to be established whether the suspect was preparing to commit suicide by hanging with the noose round his neck and had dug his own grave or was planning to kill the woman and the child. Millaniya Police OIC is conducting further investigations.