The Criminal Investigation Department has arrested the wife of a retired Sri Lanka Army soldier over his abduction and killing in Kirindiwela eight years ago, Ada Derana reported.
The 49-year-old woman, a resident of Narangaspitiya, Kirindiwela, was arrested on Monday afternoon in the same area. Police said she was wanted for allegedly aiding and abetting the crime and for conspiring to commit it.
The offence dates to 9 September 2018, after which the CID’s Homicide and Organised Crime Investigation Division opened an investigation. Further inquiries are continuing.
From a disappearance to a murder
The wording has changed. When the CID arrested a 47-year-old man in Ranpokunagama, Nittambuwa in June over the same case, the offence was described as an abduction and disappearance — the retired soldier having gone missing from Narangaspitiya and never been found.
Ada Derana now describes the case as an abduction and murder. Neither report explains what changed between June and September, and no outlet says whether a body has been recovered, whether the June suspect gave a statement, or whether a court has been told the man is dead.
That June arrest was itself notable: officers recovered a pen-shaped firearm of apparent foreign manufacture with five rounds, along with four T-56 rounds, eight 9mm rounds and two 12-bore shotgun cartridges. Police did not link those weapons to a specific case file at the time.
Eight years, two arrests
The investigation began on a complaint made to the Inspector General of Police. It produced no publicly reported arrest for more than seven years, then two within three months.
Monday’s arrest came two days short of the eighth anniversary of the disappearance.
Not reported
Ada Derana does not name the dead man, give his age or rank, or say when he retired from the Army. It does not say what the alleged motive was, whether the woman and the man arrested in June are alleged to have acted together, when she is to be produced in court, or before which magistrate. No other outlet has reported the arrest.
