The novice monk, who is suspected to have killed Ven. Nadagamuwe Mahanama Thera, the Chief Incumbent of Sri Nandarama Vihara in Weththawa, Seeduwa was arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Katunayake yesterday when he was attempting to flee to Dubai.

Police investigations revealed that the novice monk's girlfriend's parents and two others were involved in this murder.

The police said the suspects are residents of Heenatiyana and are absconding. An extensive operation has been launched to arrest them.

Police said the parents of the girlfriend should be arrested first in order to identify the other two persons involved in the murder as they have been brought to the temple by the parents.

The police have been able to reveal information about the four suspects following the arrest of novice monk Ekala Sugathasiri.

The suspect was arrested yesterday, which was also his 19th birthday, when he arrived at the BIA to fly to Dubai on the flight number EK-649 belonging to the Emirates Airline. The flight was scheduled to take off at around 1.00 am yesterday.

According to the investigations, the girlfriend of the arrested suspect is employed in Dubai under a Sri Lankan.

It is said that the murdered Thera has taken the novice monk under his care at the age of five and had also handed over all the property to him.

The parents of the girlfriend had taken the Defender vehicle and the Wagon-R vehicle that were kept for sale by the late Chief Incumbent and had given them to a vehicle broker named 'Bajee' in Wattala.

The police suspect that they have acted in this manner on the advice of the employer of the novice monk's girlfriend in Dubai.

The Defender vehicle was purchased by him for Rs. 13.5 million and he had sold it to another person in Gampaha for Rs.15 million.

The Wagon-R vehicle had been sold for Rs.5.4 million. There's no trace of the earnings collected from selling the two vehicles, police said.

The police suspect that a part of the earnings was smuggled into Dubai by the girlfriend's employer via the Undiyal system.

The police have obtained a 48-hour detention order until the 17th by producing the arrested novice monk in the Negombo Magistrate's Court.

The post-mortem examination on the death of the Chief Incumbent was held yesterday (15).