Bethmage assaulted

by Pradeep Kumara Dharmaratne and Chandrika Perera

Western Provincial Council Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Irrigation and Tourism Hector Bethmage was seriously injured as a result of an assault at Pelawatta Junction, Battaramulla yesterday. He is undergoing treatment at Ward No.72 of the Colombo National Hospital.

Provincial Minister Bethmage who was on his way to attend a Provincial Council Ministerial Meeting at the Provincial Council Office was accosted by a group of armed men at Pelawatta Junction around 11.30 a.m. and was severely assaulted with clubs and weapons.

The armed gangsters who stopped his official vehicle pulled out pistols and dragged him, his driver and another person out of the vehicle and assaulted them severely while shouting threats of murder, eyewitnesses said.

Provincial Minister Bethmage, making a statement from his hospital bed said that he attended a meeting at the residence of Western Province Chief Minister Reginald Cooray in the morning and returned home and thereafter he was on his way to the Western Provincial Council Office when this incident took place.

He said he identified an opposition provincial council member among the gang of "Ninja" type thugs who assaulted him.

The assailants had fled after taking his official firearm.

Bethmage had undergone by-pass surgery recently and doctors were making arrangements to transfer him to another ward in the National Hospital.

Thalangama Police detained Councillor Duminda Silva and six others following a complaint by Bethmage.

Western Province Governor Alavi Mowlana last night vehemently condemned the assault and urged police to conduct a swift and impartial investigation.