The medical report on the man who died in Homagama Police custody records three broken ribs and bleeding in the brain, and police now suspect an assault may have caused his death — a marked shift from the force’s earlier account of a sudden illness.
Western Province Senior Deputy Inspector General Sajeewa Medawatte gave the findings at a special briefing at the Police Media Division on Wednesday. The Daily Mirror reported that the deceased had also sustained head injuries, according to information gathered during the investigation.
Ishara Harsha Kumara, 29, a resident of Kiriwaththuduwa, died on 25 October after being taken from the station to hospital. Outlets differ on his initials, and today’s filings carry none; the surname is not in dispute.
Two separate assault inquiries
The briefing opened a second line of inquiry that had not previously been reported.
Medawatte said the man was arrested in the early hours of 25 October — but had been hospitalised the previous day. He told officers he had fallen from a bicycle. He then left hospital after a few hours without medical permission. Investigators later established that he had in fact been injured in a dispute between two groups, both of which assaulted him, Hiru News reported.
Separately, the SDIG said the man was held at the police crime division for a period before being placed in a cell, and that information had been received alleging an assault took place during that time. Those circumstances are not yet confirmed.
Both the 24 October incident and the incident inside the station are now under investigation.
Police concede the arrest procedure failed
Officers did not complete the process required when making an arrest, Medawatte said: producing the man at the station, questioning him and entering him in police records “have not been done properly,” he told the briefing.
He said a suspect’s physical condition must be recorded on arrest and relatives must be notified, and that neither was done here. “That is why we took action against the officers,” he said, adding that the investigation is not over. A separate inquiry is running under a senior officer in the Western Province South range.
Where the case stands
Four officers are suspended — three who carried out the arrest, and the Homagama Headquarters Inspector. A Sub-Inspector was produced in court on Wednesday and remanded until 11 November, closing a question this desk had left open on the arrested Crimes Division OIC.
Not reported
Neither filing reconciles the medical findings with the open verdict returned by the post-mortem, which did not establish a cause of death, nor says whether the report described is that examination or a separate medical record. Neither says whether the injuries are attributed to the 24 October clash, to the time in custody, or to both, and no filing gives a charge against the remanded Sub-Inspector.
Corroborated — two verified newsrooms. Ada Derana, which has covered earlier stages of this case, has returned an HTTP 403 block to this desk for some 48 days and could not be consulted. NewsFirst’s rail did not carry the briefing at the time of writing.