The man who had been posing off as a Major in the Sri Lanka Army, found that his bluff had been called, when he, as requested by police sleuths, reported to the District Crime Detection Bureau (DCDB) Nugegoda last Friday, only to find himself being placed under arrest.
On the same day he was produced before the Kaduwela Magistrate Champa Janaki Rajaratne and was enlarged on a personal bail in Rs.10,000 with a warning to refrain from deceitful acts. The Magistrate also ordered him to appear before Court on Tuesday September 21. The police however requested further time to complete their investigations.
The suspect, Puvendrakumar Ketapolagamage, residing in a luxury apartment at the "Lake Crescent" complex in Athurugiriya, was arrested by the DCDB on a complaint made by the Provost Marshal of the Sri Lanka Army, Brigadier Asoka Thoradeniya, to Senior Superintendent of Police, Nugegoda Division, Dayananda Bandara.
Inspector Royal Rupasinghe, who is conducting investigations told The Island that the suspect joined the Army’s volunteer force as an officer cadet in 1991 and had served till 1992 when he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Pioneer Corps. Since then he had been absent from work and the Military Police had arrested him on 24.12.1993 and he was sent on compulsory leave on 9.2.94. He had been discharged from service on 19.9.1994 in accordance with gazzete notification No.837.
On an earlier occasion too the suspect had aroused the same Magistrate’s suspicion when he claimed before her that he was a Major in the Army. He had been involved in a fracas, on September 13, with his neighbours, who had later pelted his house in Athurugiriya , with stones. He had complained about the incident to the Athurugiriya police, who arrested his foes and produced them before the Kaduwela Magistrate. When the pretender appeared before the Magistrate in connection with the case in which he was the complainant, he had claimed before her that he was Major in the Sri Lanka Army. The Magistrate whose suspicions had been aroused had ordered the police to check his credentials.
There are reports that the suspect Ketapolagamage, who operates an advertising agency named SWAT and poses as a Major in the Army, had access to certain Army installations and that he had claimed to have been a member of the 16th intake of the regular army. In his visiting card he had the prefix Major before his name and it was mentioned that he had been decorated with a Rana Soora Padakkama (Bravery Medal)
Investigations are being conducted by a squad from the DCDB led by Inspector Royal Rupasinghe with PC’s Ananda and Perera supervised by SP D. D. Ranasinghe on the instructoins of SSP Nugegoda division Dayananda Bandara.
