• Interrogation revealed the woman had introduced sleeping tablets to a glass of milk given to her husband and had strangled him to death with the help of her paramour

By Ajithal Shanthaudaya - Ratnapura

A woman suspected of strangulating her husband and trying to fake the cause of death as due to Covid-19, was arrested along with a young man, alleged to be her paramour. They were produced before the Ratnapura Chief Magistrate Roshani Perera on Saturday, who ordered the couple to be remanded till August 30.   

The victim who had been identified as Pathagama Angurukarage Saman Kumara (32) was a resident of Kiriwelthalawa, in Dodampe.   
The suspect woman Vandebonage Ayesha Nadeeshani (29) was a resident of Kiriwelthalawa who had been employed at a garment factory in Ingiriya,while her lover Helessage Dakshina Kaldera (30) was a resident of Poruwadanda in Ingiriya employed as a supervisor in the garment factory.    They are alleged to have been in a clandestine affair and that it had resulted in a family dispute. The woman and the deceased had an eight-year-old son.    The suspect woman had attempted to convince the neighbours and police that her husband had suddenly died of CORONA infection. However, the PCR test on the body and the postmortem examination at the Ratnapura General Hospital revealed that he was not infected, but had been strangled to death. 

The postmortem examination was performed by JMO Dr. Muditha Kudagma Police interrogation revealed that the woman had introduced sleeping tablets to a glass of milk given to her husband on Friday night and when he fell fast a sleep she had strangled him to death with the help of her paramour.   

OIC Crime Investigation Brnach IP Saman Palitha, IP L.D Jayatileka, SI Pradeep Ranasinghe and SI Sanjeewa are conducting further investigations on the instructions of HQI Ratnapura Police Chief Inspector Rohan Olugala.