pretext, the Kataragama Police officer-in-charge (OIC), Sub-Inspector (SI) Jayasiri Udawatte took revenge on Manamperi by arresting her as she had rejected his lustful advances on earlier occasions. When she was crowned as the Kataragama beauty queen in 1970, he had met her on stage and there after showed his interest towards her which she had rejected repeatedly. When the Kataragama police was attacked by JVP insurgents, the military was deployed to control the situation. Colonel Derrick Nugawela was appointed Military Commanding Officer of the Hambantota District on 11 April 1971. The army established their camp at the Pilgrim's Rest House. Since the police station was attacked, SI Udawatta and the other police officers also remained at the same camp. On 16 April, Manamperi and few other females were arrested on the grounds that they were JVP rebels by SI Wijesuriya and few other officers. They were taken to the aforementioned camp. Reports state that she was tortured throughout the night as she had denied having connections with the JVP which made Lt. Wijesuriya, a volunteer officer, furious. This resulted in her gruesome death. Although Lt. Wijesuriya and another officer were convicted for attempted murder, nothing was done to arrest SI Wijesuriya who had framed her unlawfully. Even though Manamperi being stripped naked and humiliated suggest that she might have been raped, there have not been any investigations conducted regarding it and no arrest have been made. Although there is evidence, that SI Wijesuriya had a major role to play in her unlawful arrest, there were no investigations conducted against him. Furthermore, investigations have revealed that these army officers failed to arrest any actual JVP rebels, except Manamperi and the other girls who were proven not guilty. Aftermath Manamperi's body was exhumed on 24 May 1971 and an inquest was held. The case was later referred to the Galle Criminal Court by the Hambantota Magistrate. The case was heard by Supreme Court judge D.Q.M. Sirimanne. The murder suspects, Lieutenant Alfred Wijesuriya and Amaradasa Ratnayake, a member of the volunteer force, were brought to trial. He was found guilty of attempted murder on 17 April 1971, by shooting her with a sub-machine gun. The two accused were sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment in 1973. Wijesuriya died of a heart attack a year later in prison. in 1988, Ratnayake was killed at his home in Devinuwara by the suspected JVP hit team