Man shot dead in Puttalam

Rafik Jalaldeen and Prasad Poornamal Puttalam Correspondent

PUTTALAM: A civilian was shot dead opposite his residence by two suspects on Thursday at around 8.30 pm in Sellapuram, Puttalam.

According to the SSP Chilaw Roshan Fernando the victim Muththiah Kandanadan was shot dead by the two suspects in his residence. The suspects fled the scene.

Meanwhile, two others were seriously injured when a hand grenade exploded around 174 metres away from the deceased Kandanadan's residence the same day at 9.30 p.m., SSP Fernando said. They were admitted to Chilaw hospital. Later, one was shifted to Colombo General hospital, he added.

"We have deployed three police teams to investigate this incident. They recovered two T56s from a coconut estate located 200 metres away from victim Kandanadan's residence," the SSP said.

One of the T56 was filled up with 30 rounds of ammunition and the other one was filled with 24 rounds of ammunition.

"We also found six cartridges where Kandanadan was shot dead," he pointed out. "It seems that two suspects shot Kandanadan and went to hide their weapons in the coconut estate. Incidentally the grenade exploded and they were injured seriously", SSP Fernando said.

The two injured succumbed to their injuries yesterday and were identified as Wairawa Sundaram and Kandarajan from Wembathuwana, he added.

There has been a dispute between the victim Kandanadan and the coconut estate owner, the SSP said.

Further investigations are on, he added.