The mother of the underworld figure known as ‘Backhoe Saman’ has died after being shot at Ulhitiyawa in Middeniya on Wednesday, police said.
The woman was admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds following the attack and succumbed to her injuries hours later. Ada Derana carried the death as an update to its earlier report, and Hiru News filed a separate report confirming it.
Hiru News, citing the Police Media Division, reported that two people who arrived on a motorcycle opened fire and then fled the area. No arrests had been announced at the time of reporting.
The victim has not been named. Hiru identified her son as Nedungoda Nirmala Prasanna, the man known by the alias ‘Backhoe Saman’.
A name already known to investigators
The Daily Mirror described ‘Backhoe Saman’ as a notorious organised crime figure previously linked to drug trafficking and contract killings, adding that his name had surfaced in investigations into a triple murder in Middeniya. Hiru described him as a man said to be involved in organised crime.
He is not an unfamiliar name in the prison system either. ‘Backhoe Saman’ was among nine high-profile inmates transferred earlier this year to the new high-security facility at Welisara, set up inside a Navy perimeter for prisoners accused of running criminal networks from behind bars. The others moved there included ‘Wele Suda’, ‘Dematagoda Chaminda’ and ‘Army Sampath’.
Reporting still catching up
The three newsrooms covering the shooting were at different stages of the story on Wednesday evening. Ada Derana’s headline still read “injured” while its body text carried the death; the Daily Mirror’s report, filed at 6.51pm, described the woman as injured and in hospital. Only Hiru had published a standalone report on the death.
Accounts of the timing also differ slightly — the Daily Mirror placed the shooting in the afternoon, Hiru in the evening. Outlets rendered the location as Ulhitiyawa, Ulahitiyawa and Ulhitiya.
