12 June 2020 09:47 am
-A letter purported to be a suicide note of the man found dead at Independence Square this morning, has indicated that he had taken his life due to multiple health issues.
The body of the man was found with gunshot wounds and was identified as 63-year old Rajeewa Prabash Jayaweera.
Police found a Point 22 pistol hanging in his neck and a letter.
In his letter, he admitted illegally purchasing the firearm to carry out this act, and stated that there were no political reasons for it.
"I do not wish for any political connotations to be linked to my decision,” he had written.
It was revealed that the victim is a resident of Rajagiriya who was a manager of SriLankan Airlines and also a freelance writer.
Police suspect that the victim had shot himself due to a family dispute.
They said the deceased had reportedly sent a text message to his brother last night stating that he had written him a personal letter that could be found in a passcode-protected luggage bag, along with the passcode to unlock the bag.
The letter said that the deceased had taken his life because he didn’t want his health issues to be a burden to others, though some of those issue were surgically operable.
The brother of the deceased had lodged an entry with the Bambalapitiya Police Station upon receiving the message, who had failed to locate the deceased last night.
In the letter, it was mentioned that he had initially intended to do this March 27 and therefore suggested for a family dinner on Saturday, March 21.
However, he said the curfew imposed from March 20 prevented him from doing so.
Meanwhile, Colombo Telegraph Editor Ruvindu Kurukulasuriya in a social media post said the deceased, who had written to the website, had donated Rs.500,000 to the COVID-19 Fund and Rs.1 million to his servant. He had also bought the pistol at a price of Rs.151,500.
Magistrate Lanka Jayaratna conducted the post-mortem examination into the death and the Cinnamon Gardens Police are conducting further investigations. (Darshana Sanjeewa)