Police say a financial transaction with another individual may have led to the suicide of the opposition leader of the Yatinuwara Pradeshiya Sabha and the deaths of two members of his family.
According to Ada Derana, preliminary inquiries by the Police have found a four-page letter indicating that a financial transaction may have been the cause of the deaths.
The bodies of the opposition leader of the Yatinuwara Pradeshiya Sabha, his wife and daughter were discovered at the councillor’s two-storey house in Yahalatenna, Yatinuwara, based on information received via the police emergency hotline.
The councillor’s body was found in a temporarily constructed area at the back of the house, while the bodies of his wife and daughter were discovered in bedrooms on the upper and lower floors by the police.
However, the exact cause of death for the wife and daughter has yet to be revealed. Police suspect that the councillor may have administered sleeping pills to them before strangling them.
The councillor’s younger daughter, aged 12, who had returned home around midnight after a school tour, had disclosed to the police that her father had given her some form of medication.
Revealing that she awoke sensing someone strangling her and saw her father holding a wire, she said that he grabbed her, but then left, saying he was going to the bathroom. Moments later, she heard noises and discovered her father had died by suicide.
Further investigations led to the discovery of a four-page letter allegedly written by the late Councillor accusing another individual of having threatened him to sell his house.
A judicial inquiry into the deaths was conducted by the Chief Magistrate of Kandy. Subsequently, the bodies were taken to Peradeniya Hospital for post-mortem examinations. The Peradeniya police are continuing further investigations into the incident. (Newswire)