The JVP yesterday accused IGP Dr. Mahinda Balasuriya of trying to cover up the killing of Ruhunu undergraduate Susantha Anura Bandara by blaming a rival student faction for the attack on the victim.

Addressing the media at JVP head office yesterday, National List MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that IGP Balasuriya had changed his position on the cause of Anura’s death within 48 hours due to political pressure.

Referring to a hastily called press conference at police headquarters on Friday (July 23) afternoon, Dissanayake said that IGP Balasuriya citing the Badulla Judicial Medical Officer Dr. M. N. Rahuk Haq’s postmortem report said that there was no evidence of violence and the body had no injuries.

The police chief declared that the death had not been caused by assault. Based on the JMO’s findings, Badulla Magistrate and Additional District Judge Y. R. B. Nelundeniya returned a verdict of natural death due to internal haemorrhage.

Dr. Balasuriya related a different story when police headquarters called a second press conference the following day to explain the progress of the ongoing investigation, MP Dissanayake said. The IGP had identified the killer as a JVP activist known as Basnayake and went on to suggest that Bandara’s death was due to assault, MP Dissanayake said, adding that the JVP would like to know whether the police felt that Badulla JMO was wrong.

The JVP played a recording of a statement given by the mother of the victim. She blamed the police for the alleged killing. The Island pointed out that the same woman had blamed one Basnayake for the killing and she, too, like the IGP had changed her ‘story’ within 48 hours, MP Dissanayake said she could not be trusted.

Explaining the circumstances leading to a confrontation between students and the police on June 18 at the Ruhunu University, MP Dissanayake said that had IGP read Sinhala newspapers the following day he would have known the names of senior police officers, who spearheaded the attack. According to him, the university administration had called the police to evict a large group of students after they had moved into the university due to a dispute outside the university. MP Dissanayake claimed that students had sought refuge on the campus as they feared for their lives following a clash with outsiders and decided against staying at the Meddawatte hostel, which was situated outside the campus premises.

MP Dissanayake said that Bandara had succumbed to his internal injuries on July 23, though he had received medical attention first at Haputale and then Badulla government hospitals. He alleged that the country was rapidly becoming a police state. Referring to recent incidents involving the police, MP Dissanayake said that excessive use of force by law enforcement agencies had created an explosive situation.