The body of a consultant anaesthetist attached to the Badulla Teaching Hospital was found near Mahiyanganaya on Monday morning, hours after Sri Lanka Police reported him missing.
Mahiyanganaya Police said the body was recovered during a search operation in scrubland close to where the doctor’s car had been left abandoned since Sunday night, Hiru News reported. A quantity of tablets was found near the body. Police have not established a cause of death, and investigations are continuing.
The doctor, who has not been named by either outlet, was on duty at the teaching hospital on Sunday and had not been seen since, Ada Derana reported earlier on Monday. Police traced his car on CCTV cameras in the Meegahakiula area, travelling in the direction of Mahiyanganaya.
The vehicle was located later that night off the Badulla–Mahiyanganaya canal road. The two outlets place it slightly differently: Ada Derana put it in the Mapakada Wewa area near the 17th Mile Post, while Hiru placed it near the Viyana canal at the same mile post. Both agree on the 17th Mile Post as the location marker, and Hiru said the car had been standing there since Sunday night.
The accounts also differ on who carried out the search. Ada Derana, filing on Monday morning while the doctor was still missing, said a joint operation by the police and the Sri Lanka Army was due to be mounted in the area during the day. Hiru’s later report said the search that found the body was conducted by police together with residents of the area. Neither outlet said whether the army operation went ahead.
Mahiyanganaya Police are handling the investigation.
At the time of writing, on Monday morning, no other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had reported the recovery of the body, and Ada Derana’s own coverage still described the doctor as missing.
