Sri Lankan Buddhist monk arrested for killing policeman

Colombo, July 11

A Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka has been taken in custody for allegedly killing a policeman who had come to arrest him in connection with a sexual abuse case, police have said.

The policeman had gone to arrest the 37-year-old monk, Konwalane Dhammasara Thera, who lived alone in the southeastern Ratnapura region’s Galanda Temple.

Thera, who was to be arrested as he evaded summons to appear in a court related to the case, strangled the unarmed police sergeant and stabbed him with a knife on Tuesday, a police officer said.

Nearby residents who heard the policeman’s cries rushed to the temple and took him to a hospital and alerted the police. The police officer succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

This is the first known case of a monk killing the policeman, they said.

A Buddhist monk was charged with murder in 1959 for the assassination of the then prime minister SWRD Bandaranaike. He was hanged in 1962. PTI