A special team was formed in late 1984 under the leadership of Ragama Some Somasiri to raise funds for the JVP. According to the orders of the team, they broke into major and rural banks to obtain money, hijacked vehicles including cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and other vehicles, and robbed wealthy individuals in rural and semi-urban areas, as well as stole salaries. All the money collected was subject to strict discipline and ethics and was allocated for the activities of the JVP and its armed wing, the Patriotic People’s Movement, as well as for the needs of full-time staff. The insurgents referred to these robberies as “economic work.”
Hundreds of insurgents died in the process of collecting money for the JVP from 1985 to 1990. First, Sunil Abeyratne of Gampaha died in 1985 after being seriously injured in a motorcycle hijacking incident and being caught by the police and taken to hospital. Sarath Wijesinghe of Anuradhapura, a full-time member of the student wing, was also killed by gunfire during a robbery. A powerful regional leader of the JVP, Thalpawila Vidane Kankanamge Dharmasena of Matara, alias Thalpawila Dharma, was killed after being caught by the Ambalantota police in 1985 during a teacher’s salary robbery. There was criticism within the JVP about using someone like Thalpawila Dharma, who had carried out responsible work such as conducting education camps, for such tasks. Similar criticism arose when a bomb he was carrying to another target exploded in his hand while he was the convener of the Antaray, killing Nimal Balasuriya, an engineering student at the University of Moratuwa.
The JVP’s fund-raising activities included breaking into 62 state banks and stealing cash and gold from 1985 to 1990. There were also 131 allegations of money-related crimes, including salary theft in the Kelabokka estate. Nearly a thousand cases of property theft involving more than Rs. 20,000 were reported after residents were intimidated at gunpoint.
The biggest bank robbery in Galgamuwa took place on September 23, 1986. The Digana People’s Bank was broken into on August 22, 1988, and cash and gold worth Rs. 60 lakhs were looted. The five men who carried out the Digana Bank robbery took control of the bank, injuring the security guard with a razor blade.
The Maradagahamula Bank was broken into on May 11, 1987, and Rs. 35 lakhs were looted. The rebels also looted the People’s Bank in Katubedda, Moratuwa, and the Bank of Ceylon in a densely populated area of Colombo on January 16, 1989. They stole Rs. 22 million in cash and gold ornaments from the People’s Bank in Wellawatte on February 8, 1989, and Rs. 8 million worth of cash and gold ornaments from the People’s Bank in Kudawella, Tangalle, on February 7, 1989. Such cash collections were carried out throughout the country from 1985 to 1990.
Several of these cases were prosecuted by the government. Some of the suspects involved were detained in Borella Magazine Prison, and the JVP managed to free all of them by breaking into the prison in December 1988.
Indrare, also known as Pannala Kottal Bhadraarachchige Indraratne, who led the Galgamuwa Bank robbery, later served as the Kegalle and Kurunegala District Secretary for a period and was a member of the JVP Central Committee in his later years. A resident of Weweldeniya, Mirigama, he was a rebel in April 1971 and retreated to Wilpattu after the defeat. Mirigama Chandrare, also known as Nanayakkarage Chandradasa, who led the Digana People’s Bank robbery on August 22, 1988, was also involved in the 1971 rebellion and was a member of the Central Committee.
Most of the rebels who worked to raise large sums of money were armed and had received training. There were also individuals who had deserted the army. They received training at arms camps in Ampara, Trincomalee, Siyambala, Udawalawe, Sripada, Ratnapura Erathna, Knuckles, Hambegamuwa, and the Sinharaja mountains, among other locations.
Although casteism did not emerge as a major issue during the second JVP rebellion, it did appear occasionally. There are about 15 castes in Sri Lanka, historically divided according to traditional occupations. These include Govigama (land-owning elite, farming, cattle husbandry), Karawa (fishing industry), Salagama (cinnamon processing), Durawa (toddy tapping), Navandanna (metalwork), Rada (cloth weaving), Vahumpura (jaggery making), Kumbal (pottery), Dura (elephant handling), Berawa (astrology and dance), Bathgama (laborers and servants), Gahala (drumming), Kinnara (flax industry), and Hulawali (coir production), among others. Among those exposed for bank robberies and related activities during the second JVP rebellion, many reportedly belonged to the Vahumpura caste. Historically, they lived near kitul trees and were regarded as traditional armed groups who served the country in the distant past. After the British invasion of Kandy in 1803, it is said that members of the Devavanshika or Wahumpura clan played a role in resisting them.
Sixty kilos of gold stolen by rebels to raise funds were seized by security forces at a house in Boralesgamuwa. The house had been purchased by the JVP in the name of Don Ariyadasa of Matara, who was sentenced in 1992 by High Court Judge F.D.N. Jayasuriya to two years of imprisonment with hard labour, suspended for 10 years. Ariyadasa, who attended a 1977 JVP meeting at Hyde Park, was working at the Dehiwala Zoo at the time and later joined the JVP. He later worked at the Department of Labour and became a full-time member in February 1988. He had also purchased a house in Moratuwa worth Rs. 45 lakhs in his name. He admitted that gold stolen from banks had been stored in the house. Security forces also recovered Rs. 23 lakhs from the house at the time of the arrest.
With the defeat of the second JVP rebellion, more than ten thousand people were killed or disappeared. A few remaining rebels took steps to support affected families. One such activist was Udaya Kumara Ranatunga, a resident of Kadawatha. Ranatunga was also among the page setters at the newspaper where the writer worked as an editorial staff member at the Divaina newspaper. He joined the Upali Newspaper Company on February 2, 1982, and the writer recalls completing his Employees Provident Fund application, numbered 383. He was also among the first employees involved in launching the Divaina Sunday edition as an apprentice.
Ranatunga joined the JVP through Monaragala Ranasinghe, a page setter. On April 22, 1988, Monaragala Ranasinghe, who was part of a JVP group that attacked the Katunayake Air Force Base for the second time and stole a large stock of weapons, was shot dead inside the base. Ranatunga later followed in his footsteps and became a full-time activist. His mother was a teacher, and he had two brothers and a sister.
The first issue of the Borella-based Lakdiva newspaper was published on January 26, 1992, and Ranatunga served as its chief layout artist at the time before leaving in mid-1992. Police investigating the Rs. 4.8 million railway salary robbery in Ratmalana on August 14, 1992, eventually arrested Ranatunga. He had carried out the act with a group on behalf of the JVP to support the families of fallen comrades. During the robbery, three railway workers were killed and nine others were injured.
Ranatunga, while in police custody, was later transferred to Mahara Prison. The case was also brought to the attention of Amnesty International. In a letter to his mother dated September 2, 1993, he wrote that “the earth is full of blood and tears.” On September 6, 1993, five remand prisoners, including Udaya Kumara Ranatunga, were killed in a clash at Mahara Prison. The others killed were Gampaha Lakshman Dharmasiri, Gampaha Ravindra Beddevitharana, Rajanganaya Rohitha Senadheera, and Badulla Wimaladasa. The Prisons Department later stated that the clash occurred during an escape attempt.
Ranatunga’s body was laid to rest at his residence in Sooriyagama, Kadawatha. The writer witnessed his wife, Swarna Rajapaksa, who was in custody, being brought under guard to mourn briefly near his body. His daughter, Sigithi, was playing on the Hela Medhani grounds. Veteran journalist Ajith Samaranayake spoke at the funeral, stating, “This is not a thief or a robber, but a human hero. However, this will be recognized not in the present, but in the future.”
Thousands of lives were lost during the second JVP rebellion while raising party funds. Regardless of the path they took, their aspiration may have been to create a socialist society with free, fair, and equal opportunities.
