Batticaloa Police have arrested the father of two young children who died from smoke inhalation in a hotel room fire on May 27, with investigators alleging fraudulent conduct around the trip and contradicting key initial accounts of the family’s circumstances.
The three-year-old boy and five-year-old girl had died after inhaling heavy smoke from a mattress that caught fire inside a hotel room, police said. According to investigations, the father had allegedly locked the room from the outside before the fire broke out.
Earlier reporting had attributed the trip to a visit to the children’s mother, said to be undergoing residential cancer treatment at the Batticaloa hospital. Police and medical investigations have since confirmed that the mother does not have cancer and is currently residing at her home in Matara.
The father was arrested on Wednesday (May 28) following lengthy investigations by the Batticaloa Police Headquarters. Investigators say they have also uncovered alleged fraud activity linked to the suspect, including the use of a false National Identity Card, the fabrication of a cancer narrative for sympathy and money, and the use of his children to solicit donations. Multiple police stations had previously received fraud complaints relating to similar conduct, Ada Derana reported.
The case marks a sharp turn from the Wednesday tragedy initially framed as an accidental fire during a family visit. Batticaloa Police continue to investigate the circumstances of the fire itself and the wider fraud allegations.
Source: Ada Derana.
