Badulla killing: Contents in polythene bag lead police to suspect
An extensive investigation conducted on the contents of a polythene bag led police to the alleged killer of a 48- year- old mother of two in Badulla.
The victim, R.A. Gauridevi was found stabbed in a pool of blood on the upper floor of her two storey home. The killer had been seen by two sisters who lived on rent on the ground floor, but had escaped before police arrived.
Badulla police deployed seven teams as well as three separate intelligence units for the case.
Police dog “Dusty” provided the first clue-- he found the path used by the killer to escape. Grainy CCTV footage obtained from the location showed an individual running while covering his face with a handkerchief.
It was a search of the cemetery near the victim’s home that revealed the polythene bag the contents of which led police to make a breakthrough in the case. Inside the bag, officers found a bloodstained knife, believed to have been used in the killing, a pair of scissors, a bandage, a bottle of alcohol, a bottle of petrol and an ice cream. They also found two Chinese rolls and two bananas in the bag.
Using the barcodes of the items, police were able to trace the shop where the suspect bought the knife and scissors as well as the shops where he bought the alcohol and the rolls.
Though the CCTV footage of the suspect from these shops were grainy, some technical work helped police to establish a somewhat clearer picture, which led them to the Facebook account of an individual who resembled the suspect.
They eventually traced the suspect to a reception hall in Monaragala where he worked. Workers had told police that the suspect had behaved suspiciously on the day of the incident and they had rewound and watched the news of the murder on TV. The man was arrested after positive identification.
Under interrogation, the suspect revealed that he was a relation of the victim and was addicted to drugs. He said he had gone to the house that day to ask the victim for money claiming that he needed to pay off a debt, but had planned to kill her if she refused.
The suspect had stabbed the victim when she refused to give him money, but he had been interrupted by the two women who lived downstairs, and he had been forced to flee without robbing the place. The suspect had told police that he had purchased petrol with the aim of burning the victim’s body to throw police off his scent.
The suspect, identified as Logananthan Vidya Anan ( 31) was produced in the Badulla Magistrate’s Court, where he was remanded till February 12.