By Roy Denish
A chilling investigation has uncovered an alleged serial romance scammer accused of manipulating dozens of women through deception, false identities, and promises of love, as police intensify a nationwide hunt following the mysterious death of a young physiotherapist.
Police have launched a massive manhunt and are seeking public assistance to apprehend a calculated, serial conman who posed as a software engineer, following the tragic death of 33-year-old physiotherapist Shamya Darshani. The unfolding investigation has exposed a complex web of romance scams, identity theft, and systemic financial fraud on a staggering scale.
The victim, who worked at the Ampara District General Hospital and hailed from Weligama, was found dead inside a locked car parked near the Teldeniya Hospital, her body covered with a black cloth. While an initial open verdict was returned, investigators strongly suspect strangulation as the cause of death after observing scratch marks on the victim’s neck.
According to sources close to the investigation, the suspect is a habitual fraudster who has systematically targeted and deceived women for money. Investigators now believe that more than thirty other females have fallen into his traps over the years. The suspect introduced himself to the victim as Dineth Dissanayake, a software engineer from Gannoruwa, Kandy. However, police have revealed his true identity as Jayasundara Mudiyanselage Champika Sriyan Jayasundara, a 43-year-old father of three from Narammala, Kurunegala.
The entire persona of this predator was carefully manufactured to win the hearts and minds of the fairer sex. Knowing he was naturally bald-headed, he consistently wore a high-quality wig to alter his appearance and present himself as a young, successful professional. By pairing this look with a fabricated IT career, he created a polished, trustworthy image designed to charm his victims. Investigators note that he systematically sought out professional, independent women, often living away from their immediate families, making them more vulnerable to his romance scams. Once a relationship was established, he would weave elaborate stories of moving abroad, combining affection with false promises of a shared future to extract millions of rupees. The car in which the body was abandoned belongs to yet another woman from Ampara, who was also involved in a relationship with the suspect.
The late physiotherapist had been in a relationship with him for about eight months. She had borrowed approximately 15 million rupees from a bank and various individuals, handing it over to the suspect under the impression that they were migrating to Canada together. Facing immense pressure from creditors over the debt, she experienced severe mental distress, even reaching out to her brother and a psychiatrist for help while staying at a lodging facility in Nuwara Eliya.
CCTV footage captured the suspect arriving at the Nuwara Eliya apartment on June 16, 2026. Less than an hour later, he was filmed carrying the unconscious woman out of the premises and driving away, claiming to hotel security that his wife was ill. The Officer-in-Charge of the Teldeniya Police subsequently received an anonymous phone call, now believed to be from the suspect himself, reporting a body inside a parked car. Police broke into the locked vehicle and recovered the body the following day.
The sheer scale of his operations suggests this fraud was his primary livelihood. Investigators found that the suspect is linked to more than twenty cases of financial fraud and corruption across multiple courts, including Gampaha, Aluthkade, Tissamaharama, and Padukka. He managed to evade long-term detention by constantly changing his location, his name, and his physical appearance. Police suspect his legal wife may have actively aided him in these operations.
Four specialized police teams are currently deployed under the direct supervision of the Nuwara Eliya Division SSP to track down the fleeing suspect. Investigators are focusing heavily on transport hubs, guesthouses, and his known associates in Narammala and Kurunegala. Because he is known to alter his appearance so effectively using wigs and changing his facial hair, the police have re-emphasized their appeal to the public. Authorities urge anyone who recognizes his facial features, or who may have encountered a man matching his description operating under a different alias, to contact the Nuwara Eliya Police or the nearest police station immediately.
