Eight arrested over killing of father and son in Hanguranketha

The police today (June 27) arrested 08 suspects over their complicity in the murder of a youth in Hanguranketha area.

The suspects, aged between 19 and 63 years, were taken into custody after they surrendered to the Kandy Police earlier today. They were identified as residents of Mathurata, Rikillagaskadawala and Udawaththakumbura areas.

According to police media spokesperson SSP Nihal Thalduwa, a 48-year-old woman is also among the arrestees.

Last Wednesday (June 21), a 23-year-old named Sandalu Santhush and his father sustained critical injuries after being brutally assaulted by a group over a land dispute. The father-son duo was fighting for life at the Kandy National Hospital for over four days until they succumbed to injuries on Monday (June 26).

According to relatives of the victims, a woman residing in the area had forcefully claimed the ownership of a house built on a piece of land belonging to Santhush’s father.

However, as per a court order, Santhush’s father had reclaimed the ownership, after which he visited the house with his wife to clean it up and fix the locks.

The woman in question, accompanied by a group of thugs, had barged into the house and started to behave in an unruly manner.

The violent mob had then assaulted Santhush’s parents, before locking them up inside the house. However, the couple had managed to seek help from the emergency hotline 119.

Police officers, who arrived at the scene to help Santhush’s parents, had informed the two sides to visit the police station later to settle the matter.

Following the departure of the police officers, the group of thugs had attacked Santhush’s parents with chilli powder-mixed water.

The father then telephoned Santhush, asking him to pick them up, however, upon his arrival, the group had returned to the house only to unleash another brutal attack on them.

Santhush, who sustained life-threatening injuries to his head, was initially rushed to the Hanguranketha Divisional Hospital before being transferred to the Kandy National Hospital.

His father was meanwhile moved to the ICU of the Kandy National Hospital with 52 stitches on his head after initially getting 15 surgical sutures at the Hanguranketha Divisional Hospital.

After receiving medical care for 4 days, Santhush and his father succumbed to injuries yesterday (June 26).

Last night, the neighbours who were infuriated by the murder of the father-son duo tried to storm the Hanguranketha police station, expressing their dissatisfaction with the failure of the police to apprehend the rest of the suspects who were at large.

As the tense situation ensued, the police officers had fired nearly 38 warning shots into the air in an attempt to disperse the unruly protesters, who then proceeded to stage a demonstration on the Hanguranketha-Kandy main for nearly an hour.