Married couple arrested over female body found in suitcase at Sapugaskanda

The police have arrested two individuals after they confessed to killing the woman whose remains were found inside a travelling bag abandoned at a garbage dump in Sapugaskanda.

The confession comes after the victim’s friend, one of the suspects who made the confession, gave an account of the events leading up to the disappearance of the victim, which did not correspond with CCTV footage.

The suspects, a married couple aged 36 years, are reportedly residents of Samithpura in Mattakkuliya.

In the meantime, the vehicle used by the suspects to move the body has also been taken into custody, the police said further.

On Thursday morning (November 04), a body was found inside a travelling bag, with hands and feet tied, in a garbage dump in the proximity of Sapugaskanda oil refinery.

The discovery was made following information received by Sapugaskanda Police Station from an individual regarding the suspicious bag.

The remains of the dead woman, clad in red and black clothing and with her hands and feet tied, had been found inside the bag which was reportedly wrapped in a mat.

The body was in a heavily decomposed state when discovered and investigators believe the victim may have died around 5 days back. 

Mahara Acting Magistrate Ramani Siriwardena had carried out the magistrate’s inquiry at the scene on Thursday while the remains were then transferred to the Ragama Teaching Hospital for the post-mortem examination.

The body was revealed to be that of a 44-year-old woman named Mohamed Mumtaz who was residing in Maligawatta flats. It was identified by the victim’s husband and two children.

Preliminary investigations found that Mumtaz had gotten into a three-wheeler with a friend on October 28 from Maligawatta area.

Later, Mumtaz’ friend in question, 36-year-old Siththi Roshana, was questioned by the police, during which she said that Mumtaz went to Lellama area after getting off in the area of Modara.

After checking the CCTV footage, the police confirmed that Roshana’s narrative contradicted the actual footage.

Thereby, the police moved to arrest both Roshana and her husband for questioning.

During the interrogations, the couple confessed to killing Mumtaz. They revealed that Mumtaz was taken to their residence in Mattakkuliya where she was strangled and beaten to death. It also came to light that the brother of the victim’s friend had aided the murder. 

The couple further divulged that they put the remains of the deceased into a travelling bag and dumped it at a garbage dump in the area of October 29.

They also confessed to having used a lorry and a three-wheeler to move the remains of the murder victim.

According to the police, the brother of Roshana, who is allegedly involved in the murder, has fled the area with cash and jewellery that belonged to the victim.