The Angoda mental hospital case
Posted on December 31st, 2016
Courtesy The Island
December 31, 2016, 6:57 pm
It was perhaps supremely fitting that we ended 2016 with a scandal involving a key cabinet minister and the Angoda mental hospital. This scandal became public for the first time due to a video posted on SlVlog.com by journalist Darshana Handungoda who explained the whole sordid episode in great detail with a powerful cabinet minister, his valet who got involved with a beautiful Korean woman, ending up with six electric shocks administered to the unfortunate valet’s head in the Angoda mental hospital. This video can be viewed on the following link – https://youtu.be/RLC7YGJb1Oo. We watched it and then forgot about it because the story was too Hollywood-like to believe. Such things can’t happen in real life was what we thought. Then last Thursday, the aggrieved valet appeared in person at a press conference with an affidavit attested by Commissioner of Oaths Mahanama Dissanayake dated 15 December 2016.
-DMP-3.jpg)
What the valet said at that press conference can be viewed on the following link https://youtu.be/Bzzjyw9KHrM. According to the contents of his affidavit, the name of this aggrieved valet is Harshsa Bandara Thilakasiri. He claimed to be an executive chef by profession who had got involved with the Anti-terrorism movement in the 1990s, and worked with Minister Champika Ranawaka for the past 16 years. He had been on Ranawaka’s ministerial personal staff for the past ten years in all the ministries that he had held from 2007 up to now. He had also been the executive chef of Water’s Edge hotel (no less) and the menial work he did for Ranawaka was obviously due to his allegiance to the cause. His task had been that of a personal valet, cooking for Ranawaka, washing and iroing his clothes and even massaging the Hon. Minister!
The long and short of the story is that this executive chef turned valet who also apparently speaks Korean got involved with an attractive Korean lady and a certain ministerial one had wanted to have fun with this lady which request the valet had refused and this led to a whole chain of events resulting in the valet falling out with the minister, leaving his service and then being literally abducted by the minister’s security guards and henchmen and taken to the Angoda mental hospital where he had been given electric shock treatment.
The fact that a minister and his valet fell out over a woman is not unusual – men do quarrel over women and even if a minister in heat tried to pressurize his employee to yield up his girlfriend to him and actually came to blows over the lady, that too is not unusual. But what is unusual is what is said to have gone on at the Angoda mental hospital. This Harshsa Bandara Thilakasiri in his affidavit claims to have been taken to the Angoda mental hospital on 10 September 2016 by a group comprising of a police officer called SI Herath, two other police officers, one Chandana Ranasinghe who is supposed to be a working director of the UDA and one Pradeep Alwis described as a driver of Champika Ranawaka. Tilakasiri says that he was kept in Ward No: 5 bearing Ticket No 5521/16 and that on the day he was warded, no patient in his ward had been permitted to receive visitors.
The next day, when his brother Lankendra Tilakasiri and a journalist by the name of Shantha Wijesuriya had arrived at the hospital they had not been allowed to see him. From the third day onwards, Tilakasiri claims to have been given electric shocks as treatment. The consultant psychiatrist treating him has been named in the affidavit as Dr Jayan Mendis. Tilakasiri claims that when he had asked this doctor to allow him to go home, the latter had refused to allow him to leave as he was not yet ‘cured’. Tilaksiri says that though the patient profile states that he had a history of mental disturbance twenty years ago and once again in 2013, that is false. If there is any truth at all in what Tilakasiri claims to have gone on at the Angoda mental hospital, this is the worst medical scandal to ever to come to light in this country.
Tilakasiri’s affidavit reads like a Hollywood film script with evil doctors waiting to do the bidding of conspiratorial politicians and declare perfectly same people to be insane. We have read of perfectly sane people being confined to lunatic asylums by the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union. Hollywood has also produced some blockbusters including a fairly recent one starring Leonardo di Caprio where you have evil mental hospital administrators who seem only too willing to keep sane people in captivity and treat them for mental illnesses they don’t have. After this story hit the fan last week members of the medical profession were reeling in shock that such a thing could take place in real life in this country. Of course we have to be careful in this because just because someone says something even in a sworn affidavit it does not mean the story is true. We have a long history of false affidavits especially in relation to people in politics.
The Sri Lanka Medical Council should look into this matter very seriously and ascertain 1) whether an individual called Harsha Bandara Tilakasiri was admitted to the Angoda mental hospital, 2) who had brought this individual to be admitted 3) if those accompanying him were not his next of kin, who had accepted the patient 4) the psychiatrist who had first examined the supposed patient and decided that he was indeed mentally ill 5) whether the hospital inquired from the patient or tried to get the police to trace his next of kin before administering advanced treatment like electric shocks etc etc.
Insanity outside Angoda
In the meantime, things were not much different inside or outside the Angoda mental hospital. The exchanges between the the UNP and the SLFP (Sirisena faction) became shriller as the year came to a close. Usually, the run up to Christmas and the following days up to the dawn of the New Year and about two weeks into the New Year is a lean period for the media with most politicians out of the country and everybody taking a long break from work and infighting. But this year, we have reached the end of the year with no diminution in the sound and fury of the political give and take. Even the ministers who have gone abroad continued to make noises even in their absence. The almost daily exchange of recriminations and insults between the UNP and the SLFP continued last week as well with the UNP going on the offensive and responding more forcefully to the jibes and brickbats of their SLFP colleagues.
Last week Ministers Mano Ganesan and P.Digambaram holding a joint press conference told the SLFP group to leave the government if they are not happy. Then three UNP backbenchers including parliamentarian Nalin Bandara held a press conference at Sirikotha and said much the same thing. UNP parliamentarian Mujibur Rahaman wrote a letter to the President saying that the Presidential Media Unit has been carrying out chauvinistic propaganda. What he meant by this was that the statements that had been made about the Muslim people and Islam by Galagodaatte Gananasara during a meeting with President Sirisena had been circulated to the media by the Presidential media division. Rahaman had taken exception to the allegation made by Gnanasara to the effect that Islam teaches Muslims to destroy places of historical value. Last week, Dilan Perera, the official spokesman of the SLFP once again lashed out at the UNP on the Sirasa Newsline programme.
All this took place in the backdrop of resounding and embarrassing defeats for the UNP’s Development Special Provisions Bill in all the SLFP controlled provincial councils with the Joint Opposition and the SLFP government group as well as the JVP joining hands to defeat it. Unless the president had specifically instructed the chief ministers to oppose the Bill they would not have thrown their weight behind the Joint Opposition and the JVP. Yet this Bill had been approved by cabinet which is headed by the President. In fact after helping to defeat this Bill in the Western Provincial Council, Chief Minister Isura Devapriya told the media that it was the SLFP that was the decisive group in the government and not the UNP.
He crowed that since the Development Special Provisions Bill had been defeated in the Provincial Councils the only way to get it passed would be with a two thirds majority in Parliament and that too was not possible because the SLFP held the balance in parliament as well. This showed the President’s ability to throw the spanner in the works using the SLFP rump that supports him. There is a very thinly disguised attempt on the part of the SLFP group in parliament to masquerade as the opposition to the UNP because that is the only way they have any prospects of being able to survive the local government elections. Because of the SLFP (Sirisena Group’s), attempt to outdo the Joint Opposition in opposing the UNP, the UNP has been left holding the short end of the stick which is doing them untold damage among the floating voters. They were left with egg on their faces on the bond issue, and now again with the repeated defeat of the Development Special Provisions Bill in the SLFP controlled PCs.
It is just as well that the UNP has begun hitting back. This has been having some effect because every time the UNP reminds the public that it is they who made Sirisena President, the SLFP group in the government loses face. It can be seen that despite President Sirisena’s encouragement of the attacks on the UNP, only a handful of SLFP members like Dilan Perera and Chief Minister Isura Devapriya have been condemning the UNP, while the majority of the SLFP ministers serving in the government have kept quiet. Even S.B.Dissanayake has not really been attacking the UNP though he did make some offhand comments saying that the SLFP cannot continue for ever in partnership with the UNP and that there are difficulties in running a government in this manner. He is just telling the truth, without any undue criticism of the UNP.
December 31st, 2016 at 4:20 pm
This is absolutely disgusting. The minister concerned must be punished at least this time. He managed to escape grievous bodily hurt of another young man in Rajagiriya sometime back.
Strangely, Ekneligoda disappeared under similar circumstances. If these crimes go unpunished, the criminals will continue with their misdeeds.
December 31st, 2016 at 4:38 pm
This is called “balaya saha balaya” Power and Power; a book by Hon. Minister Patali Champika Ranwaka.
Puppets of the Indian Empire are not afraid. They will do anything and will get away.
January 1st, 2017 at 12:22 am
චැනලින් කරන අතරවාරයේ මනෝ වෛද්යවරයාට මානසික රෝගියා පිහියෙන් අනියි”
කොළඹ නවලෝක රෝහලේ විශේෂඥ වෛද්ය සායන (චැනලින්) සේවා සිදුවන අතරවාරයේ ඊයේ රෝගියෙකු මනෝ වෛද්යවරයකුට පිහියකින් ඇන පළායන්නට තැත් දැරීමේ සිදුවීමක් නිසා කලබලයක් හටගත්තා.
ඊයේ (30 වැනිදා) සවස 4 ට පමණ එම රෝහල තුළ සුපුරුදු පරිදි සායන කටයතු ඇරඹීමෙන් පසු වෛද්යවරයා හමුවීමට
පැමිණෙන රෝගී නාම ලේඛනයට ඇතුළත්ව සිටි මෙම රෝගියා තමන්ගේ වාරය අඬගසා වෛද්යවරයා වෙත යන්නට අවසරය ලද අවස්ථාවේ එම කාමරයට ගොස් සඟවාගෙන සිටි පිහියකින් වෛද්යවරයාට ඇණගෙන ඇණගෙන ගොස් ඇත්තේ ඔහු මරාදමන අටියෙනි.
වෛද්යවරයා මනෝ වෛද්ය උපදේශනයේ
යෙදෙන්නෙකු නිසා රෝගීන්ගේ පුද්ගලික ප්රශ්න කිසිවෙකුට නොදැනෙන්නට තනිව කාමරයේ වෙසෙමින් පැමිණෙන රෝගීන්ට ප්රතිකාර කර තිබුණ අතර මේ නිසා මෙම රෝගියා සිදු කරන දේ දකින්නට හෝ වළක්වන්නට හෝ කිසිවෙකු සිට නැත.
එම අවස්ථාවේ බරපතල ලෙස පිහිඇනුම් 10 කින් පමණ තුවාලවූ වෛද්යවරයා කෑගසා ඇති අතර එය ඇසී රෝහල් හෙදියන් හා අනෙක් රෝගීන් ඒවෙත එද්දී පිහිඇනුම සිදුකළ තැනැත්තා පළායන්නට උත්සාහ කර ඇත. පසුව රෝහල් ආරක්ෂකයින් ඔහු වටළා අල්ලාගෙන පොලිසියට භාරදී තිබේ.
බරපතල තුවාල ලද මනෝ වෛද්ය රෝෂන් මහේන්ද්ර මෙන්ඩිස් (41) මහතා එම රෝහලේම දැඩි සත්කාර ඒකකයට ඇතුළු කරන ලදි.
පිහි ඇණුම කර ඇත්තේ රත්තනපිටිය බොරලැස්ගමුව ප්රදේශයේ පදිංචි 31 හැවිරිදි තරුණයෙකු බවත් ඔහු මෙකී වෛද්යවරයාගෙන් මින් ඉහත මානසික වෛද්ය ප්රතිකාර ලබාගත් අයෙකු බවත් වාර්තාවේ.
ඔහුට මින් ඉහත දිනෙක වෛද්යවරයා ප්රතිකාර කරන ලද අවස්ථාවේ වදහිංසාවක් පැමිණවූයේ යයි ඔහු මින් පෙර චෝදනාවක් කර තිබුණ අතර ඒ බව කියමින් මීට ටික දිනකට පෙරද මේ ආකාරයටම කලින් පැමිණ බලා සිට වෛද්යවරයා කොරිඩෝරයේ ගමන් කරද්දී පහරදීමට තැත් කර තිබුණි. එම අවස්ථාවේ ආරක්ෂකයින් ඔහුව අල්ලා පොලිසියට භාරදෙන්නට සූදානම් වුවත් මොහුගේ මානසික තත්වය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අනුකම්පා කරන ලද වෛද්යවරයා එය දුරදිග නොයවන ලෙස උපදෙස් දී තිබුණි. මෙවර ඔහු කාමරයටම පැමිණ පිහි ඇනුම කර ඇත්තේ එම අවසරයෙන් දින කිහිපයකට පසුවයි.
සැකකරු අපරාධයට යොදා ගත් පිහිය ද සමඟ කොම්පඤ්ඤවීදිය පොලිසිය අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන ඇත.
ඔහු වෛද්යවරයාගේ ගෙල ප්රදේශයට පිහියෙන් ඇන ඇතැයිද බරපතළ තුවාල ලැබූ වෛද්යවරයා ඊයේ රාත්රියේ ශල්යකර්මයකට ලක් කළ බවද රෝහල් ආරංචි හෙළි කර තිබේ.
January 1st, 2017 at 5:46 am
This sort of things do happen in Australia as well. Dr Brian Seneviratna (famous LTTE supporter) got his son Dr Romesh Seneviratna-Alagarathnam (non LTTE supporter), to lock him up in a mental hospital. Listen to Romesh here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yveHip2apRM
January 1st, 2017 at 4:07 pm
Absolutely DISGUSTING is a mild description of Minister Champika Ranawaka’s actions.
If he has a SHRED of HONOR he should RESIGN from his Cabinet Post immediately.
Subjecting an normal person to electro-shock therapy and reducing him to a VEGETABLE is CRIMINAL. This case should be referred to the Police and the AG for prosecution with rheumatoid utmost severity!
Sadly, this is the leader of the Jathika Hela Urumaya that supposedly represents all that is good in the Sinhala Buddhist!
This man does not represent my Hela URUMAYA in any shape or form …. he is more an ARUMAYA for the Hela Jathiya now.
He should be SUSPENDED IMMEDIATELY from the JHU pending the criminal investigation of the case, and EXPELLED if found to be guilty!
January 1st, 2017 at 4:08 pm
Oops! Not rheumatoid severity but utmost severity! :)
January 1st, 2017 at 4:53 pm
Regarding the Insanity outside Angola,
Looks like SLFP members are getting nervous about their prospects in 2017!
And they SHOULD BE NERVOUS, because the time is getting very short for them to EXIT the Yamapalanaya if they want to save themselves at the elections.
The deadline will come by mid-2017 when they will be called TRAITORS to their face by the SLFP voters, leaving the field open for the JO/People’s Front to get elected.
LOOK at who is now quoted as defending UNPatriotic Party in this article: Tamils and Muslims, not Sinhalese! The HIDDEN TRUTH is being revealed to the voters about this govt OF the minorities, BY the minorities, FOR the minorities!
Best option for Ayooooo Sirisena is to ABANDON this jury rigged govt between incompatible parties, dismiss Ranil as PM and the UNP as partner, reach out to MR/JO as the partner to form an internally consistent patritic government that abandons the “Yahapalanaya ballyhoo” of the Yamapalanaya!
If Sirisena does not do that, when the Provisional Development Bill is passed, Ranil as the SUPER MINISTER will have ALL the EXECUTIVE POWERS than the EXECUTIVE President formerly had, and will Sirisena will be reduced to an impotent figurehead President while Ranil does whatever he wants with the country!
Ranil says his Development Bill, unanimously rejected by all Provincial Councils, will now be passed in Parlament with 2/3 majority!
A Parliamentary COUP-DETAT executed by sleight if hand: NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T, and Voila! The EXECUTIVE President is now a EUNUCH, and the unelected Prime Minister without executive power who was appointed through the backdoor has become the ALL POWERFUL SOLE EXECUTIVE in the Govt of Sri Lanka!
A NEAT MAGIC TRICK … Huh?
Although checkmating of Ranil’s MOVE to acquire SUPER MINISTER POWER by the PCS is desirable in this case, it is important to recognize here is that this is the FIRST INSTANCE of the INDEPENDENT POWER exercised by the Provincial Councils against the National Central Government.
This AUGURS the confounding of the National will that we will see in much greater degree in the future when the Provincial Councils are FURTHER EMPOWERED under the NEW CONSTITUTION.
That is why I have REPEATEDLY argued against the creation of ANY SUB-NATIONAL regional governments, with ANY POWER to oppose and dilute the authority of the National Government.
It is DOWNRIGHT DANGEROUS to National Integrity, especially given the proven centrifugal separatist tendencies of the EELAMIST Tamils and JIHADIST Muslims.
January 1st, 2017 at 5:36 pm
Another story about the same minister:
http://www.sinhala.lnwtoday.com/archives/14911
January 1st, 2017 at 10:34 pm
If SUPER MINISTER and then NEW CONSTITUTION is tabled, we may need the votes of SEX MANIAC’s party and the GROUP WHO WERE WISED TO DIE (by thunder strike) to defeat it. For the sake of the country , to hell with Angoda man ( give him more injections for the time being) , let us grab these MP votes to defeat the two vicious bills !
January 2nd, 2017 at 5:38 am
I think, this is just like what happened to former president RP. His valet was planted by LTTE and he eventually killed him. Perhaps same thing happened to DS Senanayeke through the caretaker of horse. This Korean woman must have been brought to this minister who is/was championing the Sinhala cause knowing fully well his weak points. And this is an ideal way of eliminating him from the scene through these opportunistic journalists who would do anything for money. Did the man in question reported to the police?.
Before publishing this, the national news paper should have gone into the full history and found out every thing about this case before assassinate a prominent Sinhala figure character wise. Many others have been treated similarly in the past including Anura D, WW and the president himself.
I think people should ignore these.
January 2nd, 2017 at 6:04 am
Women get attracted to men with power. Che Guvera had weakness for women and he was trapped and killed because of it, but people still venerate him as he stood for socialist ideas. History is replete with powerful leaders having many women or wives. Genghis Khan had 1700 wives and it seems a good percentage ( 30%) of Mongolian population has his genes today. Our own Sinhala kings had harems. The clue to this is the existence of a village named Isthripura near Dadigama (close to Kegalle) where king Parakrama Bahu the great was born. Our people give too much prominence to women in every thing. Every teledrama is centered around them and people waste lot of time watching them.
January 2nd, 2017 at 6:18 am
his son Dr Romesh Seneviratna-Alagarathnam (non LTTE supporter), to lock him up in a mental hospital.
Hi Raj it is verry very sad , is it Dr Ramesh fine& safe now ? is any of Australian Sri Lankan ( +Tamils) helping him out from this well planed madness.
January 2nd, 2017 at 6:25 am
A motor cyclist was planted with his bike in front of Champika’s moving vehicle! So he is the King of the Sinhalese and looks like he has passed them all and now after a bit pf Korean.
Hear hear Champika championing Sinhala cause.
January 2nd, 2017 at 7:24 am
Yes, there is an Indian behind every bush in SL.
January 2nd, 2017 at 1:46 pm
Aloy,
I had the same thought as you that this Angola story may have been rigged by enemies of the JHU to destroy and expel Champika Ranawaka’s from politics!
When I viewed the video of the victim talking to the press, I was amazed at how expertly the victim conducted himself, speaking more like a planted witness thsn an exploited innocent. He even referred to his knowledge of all of Champika’s secrets over the years, welding it as a threat.
There is much more to this story than meets the eye, that merits a FULL investigation.
I also wonder what the REAL motivation and agenda behind DARSHAN HANDUNGODA’S REAL video blog is. Nothing can be accepted at face value these days.
January 2nd, 2017 at 1:52 pm
Oops! Not Angola story, but Angoda story …. of course!
Damn the word autocorrection on these cell phones! I would disable it if I knew how!