Main Suspect In Kalutara Girl’s Murder Was NOT A Key Member Of Aragalaya

Social Media posts are circulating claimed that the main suspect in the Kalutara girl’s death was indeed a key activist and circulating a photograph of a person in the Galle face protest ground as evidence. Sri Lanka’s Factchecking organization “FactCrescendo” investigation shows that the photographs shared alongside the picture of the main suspect do NOT depict photos of the actual suspect, Dhanushka Gayan Sahabandu, who is currently under police detention. 

One of the photographs shows a prominent member during GGG protests, artist Shalika Rukshan Senadheera, and the other image is of Chamara Dilshan, a YouTuber. 

FactCrescendo managed to contact a few individuals who actively contributed to the Aragalaya activities representing Kalutara. They all confirmed that the main suspect in the Kalutara girl’s death, Dhanushka Gayan Sahabandu, was unknown to them and certainly did not have any role in protest activities. Activists from the Kalutara area added that with the 1^st anniversary of some key Aragalaya events, old photos and videos have returned to the fore, and the suspects’ images were not visible in such footage either.

Full Fact Check Article – https://srilanka.factcrescendo.com/english/unrelated-images-go-viral-claiming-photos-of-the-kalutara-schoolgirls-death/

Sinhala Fact Check – https://srilanka.factcrescendo.com/2023/05/09/unrelated-images-go-viral-claiming-to-be-photos-of-the-kalutara-schoolgirl-murder/