Five suspects further remanded

Five fishermen, who were in remand custody on suspicion of the murder of a colleague while at sea, were produced before Kalutara Additional Magistrate Mrs. N. Nanayakkara and further remanded till December 10. The victim Tharaka Aravinda Silva (18) was a resident of Kandegoda in Beruwala.

Although the suspects had told police that their colleague had fallen overboard on his own and disappeared, investigations that were conducted subsequently revealed that they might have actually murdered him. Police said the trawler, that left the Beruwala fisheries harbour, had been anchored in the deep seas about 180 nautical miles away from the coast on November 17 when the incident was thought to have occurred.

Investigations revealed that the deceased, who had been on his maiden voyage out to sea had been assaulted under the pretext of a ragging and when he died the culprits were suspected to have dumped the body out at sea.

A senior police official said the brother-in-law of the deceased was one of the suspects and a previous animosity between the two could have been the motive behind the killing.