Career
He was found shot dead in Dehiwela in Colombo. Sampath Lakmal de Silva was supposed to have possessed sensitive information regarding defense personnel and there had been threats to him in the past He was a well known and reliable informant on defense matters.
There are reports he was a double agent for both the Sri Lankan Intelligence and the LTTE but there is no clear evidence on this.
Upcountry Peoples" Front (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), P. Radhakrishnan said that Sampath Lakmal de Silva had information about killing done by the army. Sampath Lakmal de Silva received phones and went to meet defense personnel whom he knew very well and his mother Rupa de Silva overhead him greeting the person at the other end as Kumar Sir and it was later revealed he had meet one Lieutenant Kumara.
Later his body was found in Dehiwela. The International Federation of Journalists condemned the murder:
"The IFJ supports its affiliates in Sri Lanka in condemning the murder of de Silva, and in calling upon authorities to investigate the case immediately so that those responsible can be brought to justice as soon as possible.
Sri Lankan authorities must take more responsibility for these attacks and establish stronger protections for media workers to prevent journalists like de Silva senselessly losing their lives just for doing their jobs."
Sri Lankan defense personnel were questioned.