Statements have been recorded from 17 people, nine of them police officers, in the investigation into the death of a man held at Homagama Police Station, the Police Media Division said on Friday.
Hiru News reported the figures at 7.33 p.m. Colombo time, citing a Police Media Division statement. Nine of the 17 are serving officers; the filing does not describe the remaining eight.
Investigators also went to a prison on Thursday (29) to record a statement, under court order, from a man who had been arrested on the same night as the deceased. That detail is new: it indicates the inquiry is now reaching witnesses who were in custody alongside him rather than only officers and civilians outside the station.
The case
Ishara Harsha Kumara, 29, of Kiriwaththuduwa, was arrested by Homagama Police on 25 October on a charge of possessing 490 milligrams of ICE, or crystal methamphetamine, and died after being taken from the station to hospital. His relatives allege he was beaten by police officers. A medical report later recorded three broken ribs and bleeding in the brain, and police said they now suspect an assault may have caused the death, having earlier described a sudden illness.
Hiru repeated that the arrested Officer-in-Charge of the Homagama Crimes Division was remanded until 12 November, which this desk reported on Thursday. A Sub-Inspector was separately remanded until 11 November. The two officers and the two dates should not be merged.
The investigation’s structure
A special investigative team from the Western Province South Division is handling the inquiry under the direct supervision of the Inspector General of Police, The Island reported. Investigators are gathering evidence covering the day before the death, the day itself and the day after, for presentation to the Magistrate’s Court.
Police spokesman ASP F.U. Wootler said the department would not shield any officer found to have acted unlawfully or engaged in misconduct.
A discrepancy in the suspension roster
The Island lists the four suspended officers as the Officer-in-Charge of Homagama Police Station, the Officer-in-Charge of its Crimes Division, a Vice Officer-in-Charge attached to its Narcotics Division who assisted in the raid, and a police constable.
Earlier filings this desk reported described the same group of four differently — as the Crimes Division OIC, a Sub-Inspector heading an anti-corruption raids unit, a Police Sergeant, and the Headquarters Inspector. The unit and the ranks differ between accounts. No filing reconciles them, and this desk is not treating either version as settled.
Not reported
Neither filing says what charges, if any, the nine officers face, who the eight non-police witnesses are, or whether the post-mortem’s open verdict has since been resolved by further forensic work.
Corroborated by two verified newsrooms filing the same day on the same investigation, each carrying detail the other does not. Ada Derana has returned an HTTP 403 block to this desk for some 49 consecutive days and could not be consulted.
