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Although a section of the Police attempted to attribute last week’s killing of a 19-year-old youth in Mawanella to accidental discharge of a galkatas (improvised gun) while a group of youth was on a drinking binge, the former Health Minister of the Sabaragamuwa PC Lalith Dissanayake, an SLFP candidate contesting the forthcoming election, yesterday said he had been shot by an Army deserter for no apparent reason.
The victim was one of his supporters.
The Mawanella police initially played down the incident, dismissing it as an accidental death caused by a person trying to show off his weapon.
Lalith Dissanayake told The Island that the 19-year-old youth had been shot at in his propaganda office situated at Galattara in the Mawanella police area.
Police identified the victim as Pathum Sharman Bandara. The Kegalle District candidate said Bandara had been in charge of the office. Both Dissanayake and police alleged an army deserter had killed Bandara for no apparent reason. Asked whether he had involved the deserter in his PC polls campaign, the former Minister denied any link with the suspect. "He is definitely not involved in my campaign. He is a wanted man and a dangerous criminal," he said.
He denied any knowledge of the suspect attacking another person at the SLFP office with a knife before fleeing the scene. He acknowledged the incident was not in anyway linked to the political rivalry with the main Opposition UNP.
According to eyewitnesses, the deserter had shot Bandara several times after he fell down.
Police said this was the first death connected with the ongoing PC polls campaigns in the North Central Province and Sabaragamuwa. Although it hadn’t been due to a clash between the SLFP and the UNP, the incident has alerted the law enforcement authorities to the danger of unauthorised persons carrying guns.
A police official said that some of the men at the SLFP office had been drunk at the time of the incident.
DIG Gamini Navaratne, in charge of the Police Election Secretariat was yesterday too busy to talk to The Island.
