Talduwe Somarama

Talduwe Ratugama Rallage Weris Singho better known as Talduwe Somarama (1915–1962) was a Sri Lankan Sinhalese Buddhist monk who shot and killed Solomon Bandaranaike, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) in 1959. He later openly converted to Christianity, just weeks prior to being hanged in the Welikada gallows.

Life and career

Early life

Somarama was born on August 27, 1915 to Iso Hamy and Ratugama Rallage Dieris Appuhamy. He was robed when he was 14 on January 20, 1929 and received his schooling at Talduwa Ihala School. He allegedly received his higher ordination in Kandy on June 25, 1936.

The Assassination

Drafted in to the conspiracy allegedly by the Venerable Mapitigama Buddharakkitha, the Chief Incumbent of the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara, Somarama reluctantly consented to assassinate the Prime Minister, "for the greater good of his country, race and religion". Although Buddharakkitha attributed Bandaranaike's failure to aggressively pursue the Nationalist reforms as motive to eliminate him, the real reason appeared to be the Prime Minister's refusal to award business deals, in particular a shipping contract, to a company floated by the Chief Priest.

The date was set to September 25, 1959 and Somarama was to visit the Prime [Minister at his home and shoot him at point blank range.

His saffron robes gave him free access to 'Tintagel', the private residence of Bandaranaike, in Rosmead Place, Colombo. As the Premier commenced his routine meetings with the public, Somarama waited in patience for his turn. When the monk's presence was intimated to him, Bandaranaike rose to greet him in the traditional Buddhist manner. The assassin then plucked out the revolver hidden in his robes and fired at the prostrate Prime Minister.

Somarama was injured when he was shot in the groin by the sentry who was on duty at the gate though having already been overpowered by the Prime Minister's personal bodyguard Inspector of Police Mr. Fareed. It was later revealed that this sentry, a known marksman, was handpicked to be on duty that day by Deputy Inspector General of Police Sydney de Soysa (the brother of the Finance Minister Stanley de Soysa). DIG de Soysa was arrested as a suspect conspirator and later released due to lack of evidence just as Minister of Health Mrs. Wimala Wijewardene was arrested and released too. Sydney de Soya was later arrested as a co-conspirator in an aborted coup attempt against Bandaranaike's wife when she was Prime Minister.

DIG de Soysa sent the injured Somarama to the Harbor Police when the Colombo General Hospital was within walking distance. It was believed to have been so ordered when Somarama failed to die from the gunshot in the hope that Somarama would bleed to death at the Harbor Police and thus all links to the conspiracy would have been concealed.

The wounded Premier was rushed to hospital and died the following day in spite of a six hour surgery by the country's most skilled surgeons. Somarama also underwent surgery for his injuries to his testes.

In his message to the nation from his bed in the Merchant's Ward of the General Hospital in Colombo, Bandaranaike referred to his unknown assassin "as a foolish man dressed in the robes of a monk", but requested the authorities "to show compassion to this man and not try to wreak vengeance on him."

It was only a matter of time before Somarama had to face trial along with four others, involved in the conspiracy. They were indicted by the then Attorney-General Hon. A.W.H. Abeyesundere, Q.C.on behalf of the State. It was a hopeless case, and in spite of a resourceful defense the jury unanimously found Somarama guilty of the capital offense. Before sentencing him to death, the trial judge, Justice T.S. Fernando, QC, CBE, told Somarama he had a "streak of conscience as he did not attend court in his saffron robes."

The Chief Conspirator Mapitagama Buddharakkitha, the Chief Incumbent of the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara and H. P. Jayawardena, a businessman closely associated with him, were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.

Bandaranaike had suspended Capital Punishment, but after his death the government had it restored. In an apparent blunder by the draftsman, the law re-establishing the death penalty had failed to include Conspiracy to Murder. As a consequence while Somarama would face the hangman's noose, the two chief conspirators would get away with a life sentence.

Further reading

* A.C. Alles, Famous Criminal Cases of Sri Lanka, Volume III: The Assassination of Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike (Dec-1979): Published by the author. Hardcover published by Vantage, Inc., N.Y., U.S.A. 1986 as The Assassination of a Prime Minister. ISBN 0-533-06636-0. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 85-90142.

*Lucian G. Weeramantry, The Assassination of a Prime Minister - The Bandaranaike Murder Case (Hardcover, Geneva, Switzerland, 1969).

* Firoze Sameer, dOSSIEr COREA: A portfolio on crime (Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1999) ISBN 955-96740-0-5. Library of Congress Control No. 99953012.

External links

* [http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/Cl01Df05.html Assassination of Bandaranaike (SRI LANKA: THE UNTOLD STORY at Asia Times OnLine)]