Two cousins brutally murdered due to years-long conflict

Two persons have been shot and hacked to death between 7.30 pm to 8 pm last night (30) in Ranthotuwila area in Uragasmanhandiya.

The deceased Chamila Deepal Ranasinghe (37) and Thushayahewage Saman Suresh (30) are two cousins.

The bodies were transferred to the Elpitiya Base Hospital following the inquest conducted by Elpitiya Magistrate Gayan Meegahage at around 10 pm last night at crime scene. The post mortem is slated to be held today (01) at the Elpitiya base hospital.

As investigations revealed, Chamila Deepal (37) and his cousin Saman Suresh (30) frequently converse in front Chamila’s house and the murders had been committed on such an occasion.

The murderers had beheaded Saman Suresh after murdering him and dumped his severed head near the Cooperative building in Ranthotuwila. They had also attempted to behead Chamila Deepal as well before abandoning his body at the crime scene.

Police investigations state that the victims had been shot at around 25-30 times. Shots have been fired in every direction and the police have discovered 26 empty bullet shells in the vicinity, stated a police spokesman. These empty shells belong in M-36 type firearms and judging by the dispersion of them, at least two of them must have been used for the crime, further revealed the spokesman. These types of firearms are used by the Police Special Task Force, according to Uragasmanhandiya Police.

Nearly 20 bullets would have been discerned by the police; however, the exact count cannot be determined as the bodies had been hacked up numerous times, stated the police.

Only the two cousins had been at the home when the crime occurred and the father, mother and the sister of Chamila Deepal had been visiting a neighboring house at the time.

Chamila Deepal is unmarried while Saman Suresh had been married previously with no children, stated the spokesman.

Police believe this to be a result of a several years old conflict between two parties. This conflict has led to a total of five murders, including these two, according to Uragasmanhandiya Police.

The conflict had been between the deceased Saman Suresh and a person named Indika Mahesh Ranaweera from Uragaha.

Saman Suresh and Indika Mahesh have had an argument 05 years ago which had resulted in Indika Mahesh killing two persons of the Saman Suresh party, back in November 2015.

One of the victims had been the younger brother of Saman Suresh.

A month after those murders, in December 2015, Saman Suresh and his group had hacked, a person of Indika Mahesh’s party, to death. The killed person had been a sand miner named Sarath Kumara alias ‘Boss Sarath’, said Uragasmanhandiya Police.

Uragasmanhandiya Police is conducting further investigation in to the murders.