Majority of Jeyaraj bombing suspects Sinhalese

Gayan Kumara Weerasinghe

C.I.D investigators probing the assassination of Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle last week arrested nine suspects, a majority of whom are Sinhalese alleged to be indirectly involved in the killing.
Two main investigation teams are investingating the assassination. Of the two teams, one is probing loopholes in the security cordon that permitted the assassin to come close to the Minister.
The C.I.D. team has found the main sources behind the assassination and several persons who aided and abetted the suicide bomber.
Meanwhile, the Identity Card found at the scene of the crime was found to be fake. Investigations revealed that it had particulars of a non-existent person.
The C.I.D. was also able to trace the cellular phone number used by the suicide bomber. It had a prepaid card number bought in the name of a Sinhalese.
The number of the cellular phone used by the terrorist who instructed the suicide bomber was operational at the point of detection. It was being used in the Hikkaduwa area. The person arrested was a Sinhalese.
In the course of intense interrogation, the man interviewed said that he found it lying fallen in a private passenger bus plying from Colombo to Galle. The suspect had found it on the evening of the day the Minister was assassinated. He found the cellular phone lying on a seat in a bus plying from Colombo to Hikkaduwa.
Following the information gathered from this cellular phone, police raided a house in Kawdana, Dehiwala. That was a boarding house run by an elderly Sinhalese couple. The majority of the boarders were Tamil.
At the time of the raid there were 10 Tamil boarders. The police took into custody the 10 boarders along with the landlady. Her husband who was in Badulla was also taken into custody.
The owner of the boarding had taken the suspect to the Grama Sevaka to obtain a temporary identity on payment of Rs.500.
Among the suspects were also a woman teacher and a woman employee of a telecommunications establishment. However, these suspects were absconding and are suspected to have fled to the Vanni. Investigations are proceeding.