Robbing incident at Nileka Jewellery which shook Matara and the police struggle

In the battle that took place over the robbery which ensued between the underground gang of Kosgoda Tharaka and the police yesterday in Matara at Nileka Jeweleery shop, a police constable died while two other police constables, four persons in all suffered injuries in the gunfire that took place in the process.

When the robbery was taking place, on a call received, the said constable who died had arrived on the scene with some other police constables and had been taking cover at a wall close to the jewellery shop and had been surveying proceedings when the looters who emerged from the other door had

shot him from behind close to his body towards his chest region and thus killed him in that instance. But a moment before that, being feeble he tried to reach the shop in one leg; but later collapses by the roadside.

It was a police constable aged 33 years named Suranga Pradeep Weerasingha (69532) who was attached to criminal investigation unit of Matara police station who passed away in this manner. While among the injured were two in the police force, a bus-conductor and a female. Underworld leader Kosgoda Tharaka including three others of the same gang sustained injuries and had fled after being shot at and when admitted to Galle, Karapitiya hospital were taken into custody. Police also inform that Chamara Indrajith, supposed to be a violent type of underground member was taken into custody while hiding in a house close to Matara Hunukotuwa junction.

Chamara Indrajith who was arrested yesterday was escorted for the purpose of being shown weapons and on that occasion he had attempted to throw a handbomb at the police officers and had been shot at by police; he had thus died this morning 23rd, police say. Among members of the underground who were wounded yesterday is Kosgoda Mahesh, a brother of Kosgoda Tharaka and Anuradhapura Athula, a friend of his, it was reported. The underground members who sustained gun shots may have come to Karapitiya hospital across a by-road from Matara, police assume.

The armed gang of looters had come in a small motor vehicle and barged into Nileka Jewellery shop down Dharmapala Mawatha in Matara around 10.00 in the morning and upon scaring members of the staff there had cornered and locked them up in a small room in the shop and subsequently collected all valuables in the jewellery shop into a bag and thus finished their plan. In the meantime an employee who was confined to the room had managed to contact 119 of Matara police headquarters over a mobile phone he had in his possession and informed about this robbery which was taking place. In these circumstances a team of officers of the crime investigation unit had rushed to the jewellery shop at that very moment.

In the process the looters had opened fire at deceased police constable Mr. Weerasingha and his team mates and had scampered on motor cycles nearby. The robbers as well as policemen suffered injuries in this incident which was similar to a scene from a film with gunfire taking place right round, terrorising the entire location. Though 1 police constable lost his life from gun shots aimed at by the robbers, apart from him a police sergeant and a driver too were wounded, police say. Other than that a woman close to the shop and a conductor of a private bus which was plying on the road at that time had received gunshots. All of them have by now receiving treatment at hospital and a hospital spokesman said that two persons including the bus-conductor are in a serious state. While that bus-conductor was in the bus which was plying to Matara from Kamburupitiya sustained injury in that manner, his wife had entered Matara General Hospital for her second child-birth last morning (21) and as a result of this gun battle ironically he too had to enter hospital.

Constable Suranga Pradeep Weerasingha who died had earlier engaged in Special Task Force and later had joined ordinary police service. His wife happens to be a nurse at Matara General Hospital.

After the robbery at the jewellery shop had turned unsuccessful, the robbers who were fleeing with the aid of a stolen motor cycle which was there when travelling across Matara rail track, it had stopped. They had then scared the people around by shooting at the skies after robbing a push cycle and at that moment officer-in-charge of Matara anti-corruption unit Mr. Udaya Kumara and sergeant Ashoka who were on their way for a raid had observed this. It was in that manner that they had begun to give chase to the three of them. As a consequence the robbers had begun to open fire at that posse of police officers too. The police then managed to knock down the push cycle of the robbers. In the process the push cycle as well as the police cab have fallen into a drain nearby and faced an accident.

A rock stone had been aimed at the head of the robbers who were fleeing after opening gunfire at the police and on that occasion one of those stones had struck a robber on his head. At an operation carried out later the suspect who was struck by that stone was taken into custody hiding in a nearby house. The suspect who had been driving the motor vehicle had after handing them over to the hospital had then fled. The person called Chamara Indrajith when trying to take refuge inside a house at the time police were pursuing him was taken into custody and when on his way to show the location where weapons were hid, had this morning around 7.15 taken a handbomb in the bag and attempted to throw it at the police officers had passed away, it was reported. He tried to fling a handbomb in the bag at the police officers and and therefore they shot at him. He died as a result of injuries he sustained on that occasion after being admitted to hospital", police said.

Seven or eight robbers had come to commit this crime, police suspect. They also believe that the robbers had come on a motor cycle. Police have been successful in apprehending four of them within the space of two hours. All of them had been armed with T 56 weapons and pistols. The magisterial inquiry was expected to be carried out on the body of the police constable who died after being shot at. It is stated in police headquarters announcement that Dharmakirthi Tharaka Pere in a Kongoda house on 29th October 2017 Wijeysekera alias Kosgoda Tharaka was an organised criminal wanted for several crimes. They had been connected to many a crime including shooting and killing the father and two sons at a Kongoda house on 29th October 2017; shooting and killing another person in that area the same day, robbing money from a security guard of a private bank in Attidiya, Galkissa after shooting and killing him and being involved in several crimes. Suspect Chamara Indrajith who died this morning has been involved in a host of cases related to homicide. It is understood that the main suspect involved in the killing of Udammita Samare who himself was an underground leader is this very Chamara Indrajith. It has been revealed from police investigations Chamara Indrajith has been involved in the death of a certain person who died as a result of shooting at a music show held in Attanagalla and the incident of a 54 year old woman being shot dead last May in Veyangoda and her son also being shot at. CCTV displays of the constable and his colleagues who came with him and hiding behind a nearby wall of the jewellery shop surveying activities of the robbers and a robber coming out from another door of the jewellery shop firing the said constable from behind close to the chest, from below