Kidnapping in Colombo !!!!

Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo
January 10th 2003

Published: August 19th 2008

The kidnapping in Colombo !!!!!

On the 1st of January 2003, I was driving back from Negombo to Colombo with my mum, sisters and Maggie amma (a person who was employed by my parents when my sister Imara was one month old in 1984). I am writing this on the 24th of December 2007 and she still lives with us, she has been promoted to our 2nd mother status long time ago hence all of us refer to her as “Amma”.

At about 1am on the 2nd of Jan, I was on Baseline road near the Borella junction. I had just passed the Dematagoda prison. I had the cycle bazaar on my left hand side and the Srina Palace (textile shop) along with another row of shops on my right. In the middle of the road there was an iron railing separating the 2 way traffic. I was nearing a pelican crossing manned by a traffic light and I could see it was green facing me, indicating that it was my right of way and anyone who wanted to cross the road would have to wait till it turned red to the oncoming traffic.

I noticed two people with one pushing a cycle and had stopped near the iron railing and was waiting to cross the road. The iron railing ends at the point where the pelican crossing crosses the baseline road and starts after the width of the crossing, in order to enable the public to cross without any hindrance.

As I reached the pelican crossing, the guy pushing the bicycle decides to push the bicycle in front of me while the other stays put. My car hits the front wheel of the bicycle. Due to the impact the bicycle rotates hitting the guy who was pushing the cycle from behind and he in turn falls on the car hitting the rear.

I stopped, got down from the car and went up to the man lying on the road. He seems to be unconscious. The man who didn’t cross the road had also come there and he told me that the man pushing the bicycle was drunk.

Afterwards just like any other accident, people started pouring in. Its amazing however deserted a place looks, in Sri Lanka if ever there is an accident there will be tons of people appearing from nowhere.

When people started coming from everywhere, the guy who had witnessed this scene and said that the man pushing the bicycle was drunk, had disappeared. Obviously he did not want to be a part of this incident and giving any evidence that would go against the man who was knocked could be fatal for him.

Fortunately at that moment a three wheeler also known as a “tuktuk and trishaw” passed by and we managed to put the man into it. While we were putting the man into the trishaw one man asked me the whereabouts of the driver of the car. I was wearing a white shirt loosely, a black trouser and a pair of flip flops (slippers). I looked like a passerby who had come to inspect the accident. I must thank my lucky stars for being dressed like that because I knew if the people identified me as the driver they would have caused physical harm, like they do normally without reasoning. Setting fire to a car in a similar situation is the norm.

I got into the tuktuk with the man inside and went to the nearby general hospital. My mum, sister and Maggie amma were still in the car. Fortunately around the same time a police jeep that was patrolling the area had seen this, came and dispersed the crowd. Uncle Nimal who lives in Kotte also came within a very short period.

When I got to the general hospital, there was an attendant who helped me put the man on to a stretcher and they took him in. I had forgotten to bring my mobile phone and I had left it in the car. I asked the attendant who helped me, for a 5 rupee coin and made a call to my mother.

Afterwards, I was picked up by uncle Nimal and we went to the Borella police station. At the police station, the person in charge of writing complaints wrote the entry as to what had happened. There were also a couple of people who were supposed to be relatives of the injured man also at the station. While the policeman was looking at my driving license one of the injured mans relatives asked for my address which I refused to give. He then glanced over at my driving license and looked at my details possible my name and address.

The police sent a team to the hospital to assess the condition of the injured man. On their return they announced that, the man’s condition is very bad and that he may not last till morning. Apparently it is a procedure according to Sri Lankan law that in such an instance the police must arrest the driver, irrespective of whose fault it is.

At about 330am I was put inside the jail in the police station. I was the only person in the cell. It was a square cell with a concrete bed on the left hand side as you enter. The bed had a sloping upwards which acted as a pillow. On the right hand side close to the back was there was a half wall about 5 feet long which acted as a toilet. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to use it.

I slept on the bed for about 2 hours. In the morning, my father who was on his way overseas came to see me. A few months later my dad’s driver Jayantha told me that my dad had cried on the way because such a thing has never ever happened to anyone in our family. My dad went up to the airport but decided not to travel.

One of the Deputy Inspector Generals of Police, who is in charge of the Borella Police station came at about 630am and gave me bail and released me.

I wanted to go and see the patient in hospital but thought its wise to let a few days pass as the family would be upset irrespective of whose fault it was.

On the night of the accident after warding him in the hospital, I got the telephone number of the attendant who had helped me so that I can call and find out from him the condition of the patient.

For the next 9 days, I used to call the attendant to find out the condition of the patient. The first couple of days the attendant used to tell me, that the man is still unconscious and subsequently he told me that he has regained consciousness but was paralyzed. The attendant used to tell me to come and see the patient. So on the 10th day I decided that I will go and see the patient. I called the attendant and informed him of my visit and went to the general hospital to see the patient. I went with my father’s driver Jayantha and a colleague from work called Geoff Bandara. We three went in the jeep that I used to drive while working at my father’s office a Suzuki Grand Vitara.

The time I went to see the patient, it was out of visiting hours so I had to bribe the attendant with 500 rupees for him to take me and Geoff inside to see the patient.

The patient made very little noise and was not fully conscious but used to move very slowly. After about 10 minutes I decided to leave. After I got out of the hospital building, Jayantha went to bring the jeep from wherever he had parked it. In the meantime 5 men surrounded me; separating me and Geoff and asked me in Sinhalese if I am coming to see the patient only now. I replied saying that I have been calling to find out the patients condition and today I decided to come and see him. By this time one of the thugs was pulling me by my shirt collar and was saying that he was the patient’s brother in law.

Then he asked me if I was the “Salu Sala” chairman’ son. Salu Sala is a big government owned Textile Company. My dad was not the “Salu Sala” chairman but was the chairman of another government owned super market chain called “Sathosa”. I knew he had made a mistake so I said no he is not the “Salu Sala” chairman. Then he seemed a little confused and was mumbling something for which I replied saying he is the chairman of “Sathosa”.

By this time Jayantha had brought my jeep and he saw the commotion and decided to come and intervene. One of the thugs showed him a knife so he decided to stay put.

The main thug requested me to get inside a tuktuk that they had come. I said that I have my own transport and that I will follow him. Then he punched my stomach and my face and was inserting his fingers inside his mouth one at a time and removing the rings he was wearing.

I said, there is no need to hit me and I will come along with my colleague Geoff in their tuktuk. The tuktuk driver was one of the thugs as well, hence 7 of us got inside the tuktuk. A tuktuk is a small vehicle that can carry with difficulty 4 people in the rear. Two of the thugs were on our laps. I had no idea where we were going but the main thug said that if I wanted he could drop me anywhere but he knows where I live and will catch me. I ignored the comment.

They took us to a little house the thugs claimed to be belonging to the man I had knocked, in a shanty area in Dematagoda; an area that even the army wouldn’t go for any reason cause it’s full of ruthless people who have very little value for life. Jayantha kept following and parked outside near the house at a bend.

The main thug who called himself “Ambiga” brought a couple of chairs out and asked me to sit down. I said its ok, I will stand and wait. Then he went inside and brought a golf club and said that he was going to break my spine. He said that he wants my family to go through the same pain that the patients’ family is going through. The first thought that went across my mind when he said this was, the logistics on how exactly he will break my spine using the golf club. When he said he wanted to break my spine, I replied that, breaking my spine was not going to help me help the patient or his family and that it was an accident. I also learnt that they were angry that I was not kept inside jail long enough and that I had used influence and got myself released the next day morning.

This obviously was excitement for the people in the area and probably would have been the only high point for the day. There were about 50 poor souls crowding outside the house checking out what was going on. I kept very calm and I soon realized that he was only trying to scare me. But of course still a doubt existed if they were going to harm me. They allowed me to call my mother and inform her that I have been taken by them.

I learnt that the man I had knocked down was 61 years old and was working as a cleaner for the Colombo municipality council. A little while later a guy came and I was informed that the guy was the son of the man I had knocked down.

I kept saying that it was an accident and how he had pushed his bicycle in front of me and how I had not intentionally hit him. I also mentioned that I don’t consume alcohol and therefore not under the influence of it. The thug said that he was the bread winner of the family and that his son doesn’t have a job. By this time the conversation had me mellowed down and we were speaking on more friendly terms. I said I will see what I can do to help the family and on the promise that I will help them, the thug allowed me to go. He made sure that he conveyed to me that, he knows my whereabouts and that apprehending me was not going to be a problem.

In the end after about 2-3 hours they allowed me to go.

After this episode, I went straight home as my mother was impatient to see me. Now it was time to do some research and to find out who this guy was. One of my family friends who were a lawyer said he knew this guy. Apparently this lawyer friend had appeared defending this thug on some occasions.

The lawyer is a very old family friend and we know his wife, brother and wife’s parents as well. This lawyer’s brother appeared on behalf of my mother when she was battling for my custody with my father. Subsequently his brother left Sri Lanka and handed over the case to this lawyer to continue. They appeared for my mother at no cost as they have known each other well.

So the lawyer friend decided to mediate. After this incident my dad kept a driver with me 24hours and I was not allowed to drive. I still kept going to work and I was in touch with the thug.

The police case was going on. The patient’s family did not put any case against me, it was only the police. Subsequently the police charged me for 2 counts.

1. Failing to avoid an accident.
2. Knocking a person on a pelican crossing

The first charge in my opinion is stupid but apparently this is a standard charge on any accident, well obviously that’s why you call it an accident and how can you avoid it. The total payment for all these charges was less than 1000 rupees. I paid that amount and the police case was over.

Due to the whole episode with the underworld mafia, all my close friends advised me until the dust settles on this issue it would make sense for me to leave the country while my parents together with the lawyer sorts things out.

In order for me to leave the country I had to get a statement from the patient stating that he is not going to put any case against me. By now about 1 month had passed since the accident and I was aware that the patient was recovering and that he has been sent to a hospital in Ragama. This hospital in Ragama is where people are sent for rehabilitation and when they are paralyzed and are sent to exercise and get back to a normal life.

The patient was in no state to come to a police station and make a statement saying that he is not going to put a case against me. Hence I went to him in Ragama with a junior lawyer working for my family friend. I spoke to the patient and this was the first time I spoke to him. He was very sympathetic towards me saying that it wasn’t my fault and that he shouldn’t have put the bicycle in front of me and he was smiling and he did move his feet slightly. There was a clear sign of him recovering.

Since he couldn’t sign he left a thumb impression on the letter brought by the lawyer. Afterwards I was cleared to take off.

I have been thinking of doing an MBA since November/December and was planning on applying to do one in summer 2003. I was planning on leaving my job at my father’s office around January 2003. I have been talking with a friend of mine called Udesh and was telling him, I wanted to do an MBA. Since MBA’s started around September I was asking him for his advice on where I could do an internship until I went for the MBA. Udesh’s advice was, after being a Chief Executive Officer and managing an airline, I would go out of my mind if I started working as in intern doing mundane work. He suggested that since I have about 9 months until the MBA starts for me to go traveling and see the world. Great advice, little did I know at the time, that the rest of my life will be based around travel. But that’s another story.
This advice to travel nicely coincided with the accident and the events that followed. Come to think of it, this may have been destiny’s way of changing my life.

In the middle of February 2003, I left to India with my sister. She wanted to start a course in Fashion Design and India was the only place my family could have afforded. My plan was to go and see the institute my sister was going to study and thereafter travel the rest of India not knowing how long for but then afterwards also travel to Nepal, come back to India and then take a bus to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.

By this time my family had decided that we were going to buy a three wheeler for the unfortunate family and until that time I was paying the family 10,000 rupees a month.

The tuktuk was bought after I had left to India and subsequently within about 2 weeks of being in India, I learnt that the patient had passed away. The cause of death was apparently his injuries. However knowing that he was recovering when I last saw him, his death still remains a mystery to me. Maybe a dead man was a better option than a paralyzed man who had to be cared for. Remember life has little value in that neighborhood and the value of a 61 year old municipality cleaner is even less.

After the death, Ambiga re-appeared. This time he wanted my family to attend to the requirements of the funeral. My mother didn’t go to meet him, instead got the friendly lawyer to meditate. The lawyer told my parents that Ambiga wants 50,000 rupees for the funeral. When my mum questioned the lawyer saying that is a lot of money for a funeral, the lawyer’s response was, “what do you value more; 50,000 or your son’s life?”. What wouldn’t one do at a statement like that ? We gave the money to the lawyer. My mum together with my grand mother went for the funeral. It turned out that Ambiga never wanted any money but it was our lawyer friend who had taken the money.

The police reinstated the case as the man had now died and since I was away they postponed the case till I got back. My traveling experience is another story, sufficient to say that I came back after 3.5 months after traveling only in India and Nepal.

After I came back, I went to the police station and asked them what I needed to do now. They gave me a date to come to court. I went to court and it got put off to another date. The police had already charged me and they were a little confused as to what should they do now. They had apparently sent the scenario to the attorney generals department for their opinion which like most things in Sri Lanka never came. The case ended their.

About 6 months after the kidnapping, I got the news that the thug Ambiga had been killed and his picture was all over Borella. His real name was a Tamil name, Ambiga was merely an alias. He was never the brother-in-law of the guy I knocked. He was the man in the area who would look after the needs of everyone in his neighborhood. I guess that’s the end.

Kidnapping in Colombo !!!!

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