The chief suspect in the Wellawatta Ramakrishna Road triple killing has told police that he gave poisoned youghurt to his parents and sister to obtain Rs. 300,000 his father had refused to give him.

He was arrested yesterday morning by the Kadawatha police, while he was proceeding to Kurunegala in a private bus. The arrest was made immediately after the police were tipped off by another passenger who was in the same bus. The suspect�s photograph had been given wide publicity by the media over the last two days.

The police found the deceased family members' national identity cards in the possession of the suspect. They also found a portion of the poison he had used to kill his parents and sister.

Police media spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said that the 28-year-old Prasan Kumarasami, who went missing from his rented annex in Wellawatta, after the mysterious deaths of his parents and sister, had been arrested around 10.45 am by the Kadawatha police and handed over to Colombo Crime Division at Dematagoda for further investigations.

CCD Director SSP R. L. Ranaweera told The Island that the suspect had confessed that he could not face the people from whom he had borrowed money for his luxury lifestyle and therefore killed his parents and sister by introducing a drug into youghurt. Following their deaths the suspect had visited the parents� house in Kotagala and searched for the money but could not find any.

The suspect said he had requested part of the money (Rs. 300,000) his father got upon retirement but to no avail. The victim had worked as a driver on an estate. After the CCD inquiry, the suspect was handed over to the Wellawatte police for further action as the killings had occurred in their area.

India should take "measures" to ensure that the Sri Lankan government does not succeed in robbing provincial councils of certain powers under the 13th amendment, a delegation of Sri Lankan parliamentarians said here on Wednesday. "We hope that India will take measures to arrest the trend and reverse the process and hold Sri Lanka to its word (of going beyond the 13th amendment)," M A Sumanthiran, member of the six-member Tamil National Alliance delegation, told Express. When asked by Indian officials about the situation on ground Sumanthiran said, "The abolition of the 13th amendment is not happening in a vacuum... It's happening as part of a larger agenda, which has many parts." The delegation, led by veteran Sri Lankan Tamil leader R Sampanthan, met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday evening. They had earlier met with External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon.

The government yesterday said that any alterations to the 13th amendment would be effected only via the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to be set up. It requested other parties to take part in PSC proceedings. That move, it added, was in keeping with the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations. Addressing a media conference at the party headquarters in Colombo, SLFP Senior Vice President and Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that the main Opposition UNP and the Tamil National Alliance had not nominated their members to the PSC and that was why there was a delay in setting it up. Minister de Silva said however that the Northern, North Western and Central Provincial Council elections would be held as scheduled and they would not be affected by the amending of the 13th Amendment.

Following the case filed by the wife of the missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda, Homagama Magistrate today (19) released a notice ordering the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) parliamentarian Arundika Fernando to appear before court on June 16th. The notice has been released following the request made by the counsel appearing on behalf of the aggrieved party, Attorney-at-law Upul Kumarapperuma denoting that Arundika Fernando must be questioned regarding the statement he made to the media. In his statement he had stated that Eknaligoda is currently residing in France.

A tense situation erupted at the Open University in Nawala after a student had attacked a lecturer, sources told Ada Derana. The lecturer has been admitted to the Kalubowila Hospital with cut injuries. The student who attacked the lecturer is still within the university premises carrying the sharp object used in the attack, sources claimed. Despite police being notified not a single policemen has arrived at the scene, it is reported.

Democratic Party leader Gen. Sarath Fonseka yesterday vowed to make his party the second force in the local political arena, claiming that it had already taken third place. Addressing a gathering, after presenting appointment letter to his party's electoral organisers and candidates for the forthcoming provincial council elections, the former army commander said that more than the government, it was the Opposition which feared his party. Citing an example from Pakistan, Fonseka said that the present opposition, led by former cricketer Imran Khan, had started out with only one member in parliament and in a few years it had become the main Opposition. "Likewise, the DP also expects to go on its political journey with the support of the people," he said.

The government says administratively the 13th Amendment to the constitution is a "white elephant" and past experiences have proven this. In a live Twitter interview today, President's Secretary Lalith Weeratunga said that the 13th Amendment must be viewed from the angle of the citizen. "It's no secret that administratively it's a white elephant. Pres Rajapaksa will always honour the Constitution. 13 A has to be viewed from people's standpoint. Devolution must be to the village. Power must be devolved to the lowest possible level, the village - the Gramarajya or Panchayat. Sub nat'l level PCs haven't served purpose," he said. He also rejected the assertion that the actions of the government contravene the recommendations of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

MP Duminda Silva arrived in Parliament a short while ago for the first time in 18 months following the shooting incident in Kolonnawa that resulted in the death of former MP Baratha Lakshman Premachandra in 2011. The UPFA Parliamentarian was hospitalised with gunshot wounds to the head following the incident in Kolonnawa on October 8, 2011. MP Silva was further treated in Singapore where he made his recovery and returned to the island. Charge sheets were filed against 13 suspects including MP Duminda Silva over the murders of four persons including former Parliamentarian and Presidential Adviser Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra.

A group of young Sri Lankan cricket fans have reportedly assaulted a group of Tamil activists who were staging a peaceful protest against the Sri Lankan government at the entrance of Oval grounds in England. The incident has occurred after the Sri Lanka national cricket team gained victory over Australia in Champion Trophy. Over 100 Tamil activists including children have participated in the protest and they have been issuing leaflets, which indicated that people should boycott the matches played by the Sri Lankan cricket team as the Sri Lankan government is involved in the genocide of the Tamil ethnics. The fans who came out excited after victory of Sri Lanka over Australia has attacked the demonstrators, who were wearing yellow T shirts and holding LTTE flags, with bottles and stones. Several demonstrators have sustained injuries following the assault.

Sri Lanka Navy Wednesday intercepted and arrested 80 illegal migrants bound for Australia in the seas off the eastern coast. A fast Naval Patrol Craft attached to the Eastern Naval Command has intercepted a multi-day fishing vessel with the 80 people onboard in the seas off of Batticaloa this morning, the Navy said. The arrested migrants are being brought to the Trincomalee Harbor to be handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for further investigations. Despite Sri Lanka Navy's efforts and Australia's recent measure of returning the boat people back to home country, would-be asylum seekers continue attempting to migrate to Australia.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the Northern Province should be opened up for all communities to live in without further delay. That would be of pivotal importance to promote bonding among the people in the post-war era. The Defence Secretary emphasised that the Sinhalese shouldn't be deprived of their right to buy land in any part of the country, including the Northern Province comprising the administrative districts of Jaffna, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya. The outspoken official said that the Sinhalese and the Muslim public servants too, should be allowed to serve in the Northern Province as well as in the predominantly Tamil areas of the Eastern Province.

For the first time since the end of the military annihilation of the LTTE in May 2009, and a raging debate within Sri Lanka on the way to go about redressing the political and social grievances of the island nation's Tamils, India has expressed dismay over reports suggesting that Colombo is mulling over a review of the key issues related to devolution of powers to the provinces. At an interactive session with a delegation of the Tamil National Alliance, the legislative representative group of the Sri Lankan Tamils in the North-Eastern province, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is reported to have told them that reports of the Rajapaksa regime reneging on its commitment to New Delhi on a political package for resolution of the concerns of the Tamil community in the island nation are disturbing.

Sri Lanka's external affairs minister has pleaded with Tamil refugees in Australia who fled the nation's bloody civil war to come home - having quietly slipped into Canberra for talks on combating people smugglers. G.L. Peiris told Fairfax Media in an exclusive interview Sri Lanka is now perfectly stable, with an economic boom in the once devastated northern Tamil regions running at three-times the national average. But he warned smugglers sending record numbers of Sri Lankans by boat to Australia were making "unconscionable profits" and cared nothing for the people they put on unseaworthy vessels. "Sri Lanka is today a land at peace, it is a perfectly stable society. The northern province is developing at about 22 per cent, when the average population of the country is between 6 or 7 per cent," Professor Peiris said.

Two suspects have been arrested by the police rearding the warehouse fire which broke down at the Colombo harbor recently. They have been arrested by the Colombo Crime Division. The fire broke down on the 24th May around 1.00 am. Ports authority Fire brigate with the help of the military and the CMC was able to put out the fire.

DIG Vaas Gunawardena who is in remand over the alleged involvement in an abduction and murder of a businessman has been interdicted, the Police Spokesman stated. DIG Gunawardena, who is a suspect in the abduction and murder of a businessman in Dompe was taken from the Colombo National Hospital to the Prison Hospital on June 15 after falling ill while in custody. The DIG was further remanded until June 25 by the Colombo Additional Magistrate A.M. Shabdeen. Bambalapitiya-based businessman Mohamed Siyam was abducted and murdered in the Dompe area on May 22.

Tamil National Alliance MP C Yogeswaran on Sunday demanded that immediate steps be taken to stop the aggressive and meticulously planned sinhalicisation of Punaanai East, situated 52 km northwest of Batticaloa city. During the times of the LTTE, the presence of the Tiger forces from Kudumpimalai in the South to Vaakarai in the North had thwarted the earlier attempts of sinhalicisation. In the absence of LTTE, sinhalicisation is now rapidly taking place along Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa border, where Punaanai is situated. Besides occupation of Sinhalese families, Punaanai has also witnessed various instances of Sinhalicisation including the statue of the Chief deity of a Pi'l'laiyaar temple going missing and demolition of Saivite temples under the guise of archeological excavations.

The Principal of the Anuradhapura Niwanthaka Chetiya College had been allegedly assaulted by the son of the SLFP Pradeshiya Sabha member Anil Pushpananda today. The assailant, an Advanced Level student in the college had allegedly assaulted the Principal when he asked the students to attend additional classes during the holidays.

The Registration of Electors (special provisions) bill that ensures voting rights to displaces persons in the North passed in parliament with amendment a short while ago. The Supreme Court ruled that the special bill that gives voting rights to the displaced in the North is consistent with the constitution, Speaker announced in parliament on June 5. The issue of whether it is in accordance with the constitution that those who were internally displaced in the North could cast their votes according to the areas they resided in before being displaced was brought up to the Supreme Court for interpretation. Deputy Solicitor General Arjun Obeysekera who was present for the Attorney General pointed out that internally displaced persons can, with a certificate from the Grama Sevaka, cast his vote for the area of residence prior to being displaced.

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution has opened up a dialogue in the media and the public space. It is a characteristic of democracy. Some say the 13th Amendment is needed; some say it is not required. However, Police powers and Land powers referenced in the Amendment are not required at this juncture, Prime Minister and Buddhasasana and Religious Affairs Minister D.M. Jayaratne said. The Prime Minister made these comments at a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office yesterday. He said giving Police and Land powers will create needless issues in a small country like Sri Lanka. "This would lead to many problems in the future. The 30-year war in Sri Lanka was brought to an end under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, the new High Commissioner of India to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka arrived in Colombo today, the Indian High Commission said in a release. Mr. Y.K. Sinha is a seasoned diplomat and during his career of 32 years, has handled several important assignments at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi and in Indian diplomatic missions in the Middle East, Europe, South America and the Permanent Mission of India at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Before coming to Sri Lanka, he was Additional Secretary in the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. He was Ambassador of India to Venezuela from January 2007 to August 2009 and Consul General of India in Dubai from August 2003 to December 2006. Earlier, he served as Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi (UAE) from March 2002 to July 2003.

Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader Sarath Fonseka said today the fact that President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself had to call the victimised teacher to assure her that justice will be done goes to prove that there is no justice in Sri Lanka. Mr. Fonseka was referring to the incident where a UPFA member of the North Western Provincial Council had allegedly humiliated a female teacher for disciplining his daughter on Friday. At a ceremony to appoint DNA electoral organisers, Mr. Fonseka said the provincial councillor should have praised the teacher for advising his daughter.