A retired army officer has committed suicide by hanging himself at his resident in Karandupana, Kegalle.
Police have discovered a letter which is believed to have been written by the 51-year-old father of three before he took his own life.
In the letter, the retired army officer claims that he was responsible for the assassination of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge and asks for the release of the army intelligence officer who is currently under arrest over the murder, police said.
The body of the deceased has been placed at the Kegalle General Hospital for the postmortem examination while Kegalle Police is conducting further investigations.
Wickramatunga, former editor-in-chief of the Sri Lankan weekly The Sunday Leader, was murdered on his way to work in January 2009.
Last month, Sri Lankan police exhumed the body of the slain journalist as part of a new investigation into his death.
A court granted permission for the police to exhume the editor’s body due to contradictory post-mortem reports--two months after a military intelligence officer was arrested in connection with the killing.
