A man whose family had been officially informed by police that he had died in custody arrived home alive on Monday, walking in on the funeral his village had spent the day preparing for him, Hiru News reported.
The man, named by Hiru as D.M. Keerthisena, is a resident of Kohobankulama in Galgamuwa, in the Kurunegala district. He had been held at Wariyapola Prison, and Nanneriya Police notified his relatives that he had died inside the facility.
Relatives and neighbours, described by the report as deeply shocked and grieving, moved quickly to organise the funeral. Funeral banners were put up across the village and preparations were under way for the wake and the cremation when Keerthisena appeared at the house, to the astonishment of those gathered.
Villagers demand an inquiry
Residents have protested strongly over what the report describes as serious shortcomings and negligence in the exchange of information between prison and police authorities. They are calling for an immediate investigation by the responsible agencies into how a living detainee came to be reported dead to his own family.
Hiru did not say what Keerthisena had been held for, how long he had been in custody, whether he had been released or transferred, or how the notification of death came to be issued. Nor did it report any response from the Prisons Department, Nanneriya Police or the Kurunegala district authorities.
The report gives no indication of whether another detainee died at Wariyapola Prison and was misidentified, which would be the most straightforward explanation for a death notice reaching the wrong family.
As of early Tuesday, no other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had published its own report of the incident, and the account rests on Hiru’s district correspondent. Whether any of the agencies involved confirm the sequence, and whether an inquiry follows, are the open questions.
