Now that the the CID has been set a deadline to produce Senior Superintendent of Police K. Udayapala and others before Court in connection with the killing of Morris Wickremasinghe, it is interesting to see what the police would do in this situation.

On Tuesday May 22 Additional District Judge and Magistrate Colombo A. Anavaratne told the police that on the evidence given before Court, by the witnesses and the material submitted by the CID, there was sufficient evidence of SSP Udayapala’s involvement in the killing of Nawala Nihal’s brother Morris Wickremasinghe and the CID could thus act under Section 116 of the Criminal Procedure Code and produce the suspect before Court.

On an earlier occasion too the Magistrate had ordered the police to produce SSP Udayapala in Court in connection with the killing but immediately after that on the recommendation of National Police Commission, Senior Superintendent of Police K. Udayapala was transferred out of the Nugegoda Police Division and sent to Kalutara as head of the Police Training College. It is then pertinent to ask the IGP what kind of training Udayapala could give the young police officers there.

Although a Magistrate had made an order for his arrest in connection with the alleged murder of Morris Wickramasinghe, Udayapala still remained a free bird.

Even though the Chief Justice of this country had referred to the non-arrest of Udayapala, at the Convocation of the Bar Association, Udayapala remains at large. This prompt’s one to wonder what the mystery behind Udayapala’s super untouchable position is. Of course, prior to May 22 the Police would have been able to say that there wasn’t sufficient evidence against him. That too in spite of the very cogent direct evidence given by Mangalika Wickramasinghe that Udayapala threatened her with death if she did not transfer property to his name.

A few days later, Morris Wickremasinghe was killed and the woman who gave directions to the underworld gangster Maiya is still at large. Has she disappeared without a trace from the Police? Naturally there are serious doubts cast upon the investigators and especially the CID for not being able to arrest Renuka Wasanthi.

Renuka Wasanthi is wanted in three murder cases. She killed her daughter’s boy friend Babu Praveen Surange in the year 2004 and dumped the body in the Diyawanna Oya. When the Gangodawila Magistrate recorded a verdict of homicide and named Renuka Wasanthi as the first suspect, the boy’s mother, Illukpodiyan Nandawathie, broke down and cried before the lady Magistrate and told her that the Police was doing nothing with regarding her son’s death. The Magistrate directed SSP Udayapala to arrest Renuka Wasanthi, her son Sanjeewa and her nephew Gayan, expecting the SSP to uphold the Rule of Law and produce them before Court. This murder took place in 2004. On November 23, 2006 the order to arrest the suspects was made for the second time by the Magistrate.

Mrs. Padmini Ranawaka Gunathilake, Chief Magistrate Gangodawila, said that if a senior police officer, for personal gain and benefit, forces a junior police officer not to arrest the suspect concerned, it is a matter that should be condemned as it is a crime against humanity and the upholding of the Rule of Law and in turn it helps the criminals to commit more crimes.

The Senior Police Officer referred to by Mrs. Ranawaka, the lady Magistrate, was none other that SSP K. Udayapala in whose support the underworld pasted poster and displayed banners when he was transferred from Nugegoda.

The law abiding citizens of this country would have expected, in the normal course of justice, for Udayapala to send a team of police officers to arrest Renuka Wasanthi, the prime suspect in that murder case.

But instead, Udayapala summoned Sagara Liyanage, the then OIC of the Welikada Police to his office at the Mirihana Police Station. In the presence of Renuka Wasanthi, SSP Udayapala instructed Sagara Liyanage to give Renuka Wasanthi protection. A fugitive from Justice had the privilege of having a road block in front of her house and two armed policeman on guard. A person closely resembling SSP Udayapala was a frequent visitor to Renuka Wasanthi’s house, according to statement, to the CID, made by the landlady.

Renuka Wasanthi had given more than 13 telephone calls to SSP Udayapala after she was accused of the murders of Babu Suranga and Morris Wickramasinghe.

When the most important piece of evidence in the Sarath Ambepitiya murder case, just a single telephone call given by the assassin, immediately after the murder to drug baron Nauffar, was confirmed, it was sufficient for the Supreme Court to confirm the death penalty hand down to the killers.

But in this case, where it is alleged that Udayapala not only gave protection to Renuka Wasanthi but also assisted her to grab the land belonging to Nihal Wickramasinghe and thereafter joined her to threaten Morris Wickramasinghe that unless he transfers the land to them (Udayapala and Renuka Wasanthi) he would be killed. Thereafter, it is alleged that They had directly or indirectly been involved in the killing of Noel Wickramasinghe. Even after it was found that 13 telephone calls had been made between Renuka Wasanthi and Udayapala, the investigators still believe that there is insufficient evidence to arrest Udayapala and charge him with either conspiracy or aiding and abetting in the murder of Morris Wickramasinghe.

The investigators had scant respect for the orders given by two Magistrates. One was to arrest Udayapala, as a suspect in a murder case and the other castigating Udayapala for undermining the arrest order given against Renuka Wasanthi, which closely showed the nexus between Udayapala and Renuka Wasanthi. This connection and Udayapala’s subsequent conduct is more than sufficient to show his complicity in the murder of Noel Wickramasinghe and Morris Wickramasinghe.

If a telephone call, given by the suspect after the killing of Sarath Ambepitiya, from a telephone booth to Nauffer, to a telephone not directly owned by Naufer, was sufficient to convict and hang him, it could only be said that the delay in arresting Udayapala shows that there is a hole in the bucket of justice.