Woman counsellor found hacked to death in lodge

A female mental health counsellor who offered her services to Military personnel and Police officers during the period of the war was found hacked  to death in a lodge in Thalangama, police said. The body of the woman named Sujatha Munasinghe Manabharana was found yesterday (4) afternoon.

Investigations have revealed that this woman has been staying at this lodge with a man since August 26.

Investigations revealed that she and the man used to leave the hotel room in the morning and return in the evening.

The two of them had come to the hotel room as usual on September 3. But they had not left the room yesterday morning (4) and as there was no noise from the room, the hotel staff had opened the door and had found her body there.

When her body was found, the person who had spent the last few days with her in the hotel room had disappeared.

The hotel has a security camera system installed but it is not working, so yesterday the police took steps to analyze the security camera footage installed in the nearby houses and institutions as well as the telephone network to identify the man. The couple did not present their national ID cards or any proof of identity when they arrived at the hotel. The police say that they have given false information. It has been found in the investigation that she has given her national identity card number as the identity card number of a person born in 1977. However, it has been found that this woman is over 50 years old.

When checking the history of the murdered woman, it appears that she has been offering counselling services to the Army and Police since 2003.

In addition to soldiers, she has personally met and provided counselling services to high-ranking officers of the Army and Police. She has even provided counselling to a former Inspector General of Police for a long time.

She used to travel to provide counselling services with a man who is about 10 years younger than her. Police have received information about the two of them staying in hotels around the country to provide counselling services and not paying their hotel bills. They have told the hotels to get the money from the relevant police or military camp where they were offering their services.

This woman has appeared with the man who was said to be her assistant at that time as a representative of the Sri Lankan government providing counselling services. Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was Defence Secretary at that time, came to know about this and had issued an order banning her from entering the military camps. About 10 years ago, the person who claimed to be the assistant of this woman climbed on a communication tower in the Town Hall area of Colombo and carried out a protest.

The protest was against the woman where he had claimed that after promising to marry him she was avoiding him.

The police had found copies of reports which appeared in the media about her counselling services to military personnel, in the room. But the police so far have failed to find where she resides. Police investigations are ongoing.

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