A 29-year-old man arrested in a drug raid died after being taken from Homagama Police Station to hospital on Sunday. His relatives say officers beat him to death. Police say he fell ill suddenly in custody. The Homagama Magistrate’s Court has ordered a post-mortem examination, and an investigation is under way under the direction of the area Assistant Superintendent of Police.

The man was arrested in the early hours of Sunday and held in the station’s cell, Hiru News reported at 6.08 p.m. Colombo time. His family says he died as a result of being assaulted by police officers.

The Daily Mirror reported on Monday morning that he had been arrested in connection with a drug-related investigation, and had been brought to the station following a raid — the first account of why he was detained.

He is named by Hiru as Francis Durage Ishara Harsha Kumara, from Munamalewatta in Kirivattuduwa, in the Homagama area on Colombo’s southeastern edge. The Daily Mirror gives the name as Ishara Harshakumara of Kiriwaththuduwa. The two are the same person; the spellings differ because both are transliterations from Sinhala.

What the family says happened

Relatives went to the station on Sunday morning to see him. According to their account, he had been taken to the Criminal Investigation unit, and four officers carried him back into the station — he could not walk — and he had been beaten.

The Daily Mirror’s account of the same visit says the relatives “found signs suggesting that he had been physically assaulted.”

Police then arranged, at the relatives’ request, to admit him to Homagama Base Hospital. The family says he was already dead when he was admitted, and that officers moved to get him medical attention only after the relatives insisted on it.

A tense situation developed at the hospital grounds as relatives demanding justice for the death became agitated, Hiru reported.

What police say

Police have now given their account, and it differs from the family’s on the central question of cause. According to the Daily Mirror, police said the suspect, brought to the station after a raid, had suddenly fallen ill and died after being admitted to hospital.

That is a claim of sudden natural illness, not of injury. No police statement reported so far addresses the relatives’ specific allegation that four officers carried him back from the Criminal Investigation unit unable to walk.

The investigation

Two processes are now running:

The post-mortem is the fact that will decide between the two accounts. Neither outlet reports when its findings are expected.

An unresolved discrepancy

The two filings disagree on the man’s family. Hiru describes him as a father of one; the Daily Mirror says he was a father of two. Neither figure is corroborated by the other outlet, and this desk records the conflict rather than choosing between them.

Update, Monday evening: three officers suspended and the minister orders an independent probe

Three officers attached to Homagama Police Station have been suspended with effect from 26 October, police said, as reported by the Daily Mirror at 7.18 p.m. Colombo time and by Hiru News at 6.50 p.m. This answers directly the question this article had recorded as open — whether any officer would be suspended pending the inquiry.

The two outlets agree on the number but not on who they are. The Daily Mirror says the three are two Sub-Inspectors — the Officer-in-Charge of the Crime Branch and the Officer-in-Charge of the Anti-Corruption Raids Unit — along with one Police Constable. Hiru says they are the Officer-in-Charge of the Homagama Police criminal investigation unit and two Police Constables. Both accounts put a crime-branch OIC among the suspended; they differ on whether the remaining two are a second Sub-Inspector and one constable, or two constables. This desk records the discrepancy rather than choosing between them. Neither outlet names any of the three.

The composition matters because of the family’s specific allegation, reported above: that he had been taken to the Criminal Investigation unit and carried back by four officers, unable to walk. Both accounts of the suspensions place the head of that unit among those stood down.

The minister’s instruction

Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Ananda Wijepala has instructed Inspector General of Police Priyantha Weerasooriya to conduct a prompt and independent investigation into the death, the Daily Mirror reported at 4.52 p.m., with Hiru reporting the same instruction at 4.38 p.m.

The minister said that ensuring the safety and human dignity of individuals taken into police custody is a fundamental responsibility of law enforcement officers, and directed that appropriate legal action be taken on the findings of the post-mortem and the investigation.

Four separate processes are now running

The Daily Mirror’s fuller account sets out the structure of the inquiry:

The arrest, dated and located

The Daily Mirror’s Monday-evening filing gives the arrest details the earlier accounts lacked. The 29-year-old suspect, a resident of Moonamalewatta, Kiriwaththuduwa, was arrested by Homagama Police on 25 October at Pitipana Junction with suspected methamphetamine, commonly known as Ice, in his possession.

This is a third transliteration of the residence — Hiru gave Munamalewatta, the Daily Mirror earlier gave Kiriwaththuduwa alone — and all refer to the same place.

Police maintain their account that the suspect fell ill after being brought to the station and was admitted to Homagama Base Hospital, where he died.

What is still not established

The cause of death remains undetermined pending the post-mortem, now set for 27 October. Still unreported: the exact time of his death, the names and ranks of the suspended officers, and whether the National Police Commission or the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has been notified or opened its own file.

No finding of fact has been made by any court, and a suspension is a precautionary administrative step, not a finding of wrongdoing. No filing says whether the suspended officers are the same officers the family alleges carried him back from the Criminal Investigation unit, or whether any of them has been interviewed under caution. Neither outlet reports who ordered the suspensions, or whether the officers have made any statement.

Sourcing note

This report has been updated. When first published on Sunday evening it was a single-source story carrying only the family’s allegation, with no police account available — this desk had checked the Daily Mirror’s breaking-news listing and the NewsFirst homepage rail and found no other filing at that hour. The Daily Mirror filed its own account at 7.29 a.m. on 26 October, which supplied the police version, the drug-raid context, the magistrate’s post-mortem order and the ASP investigation. NewsFirst had still not filed on the death at the time of this update.

A search also returned two unrelated cases that share surface features and should not be confused with this one: the April 2026 death of a 19-year-old private university student after a clash at a Homagama hotel, and an April 2025 report of a youth who died in custody elsewhere. Neither is this incident.

Ada Derana could not be checked — its pages have returned a CloudFront error to this desk for 47 consecutive days.

Updated again on Monday evening with the suspensions, the minister’s instruction and the post-mortem date. The NewsFirst homepage rail was re-checked directly at that point and still carried no filing on the death, so the negative recorded above continues to hold rather than being carried forward on assumption. With the Daily Mirror and Hiru both now filing on the same developments, the account of the suspensions and the ministerial instruction is corroborated across two verified newsrooms, though they differ on the officers’ ranks as noted.

This report will be updated when the post-mortem findings are reported.