He said that investigations are being carried out to find out the motives behind the murder.

The body of Dharmaratnam Shivaram is now lying at his residence in Mount Lavinia, which will be taken to Baticaloa where the burial will take place on Monday.

BBC’s Sandesaya correspondent, Elmo Fernando who visited the house interviewed several editors of leading newspapers in Sri Lanka for their reactions.

“A journalist has the right to express his opinion. That is what is meant by democracy. To counter it with violence and threat challenge this democratic right of a person”, Siri Ranasinghe, Editor of Lankadeepa said.

Editor, Ravaya, Victor Ivon said groups of vicious people in a backward society have created the enviornment for Sivaram's assassination.

Sivaram received threats earlier and Sinhala extemists termed him as an evil and a traitor, he said.

Jatila Wellabada, editor of Lakbima said media is a huge resource of ideas and different opinions and it is left to people to decide and judge.

“If there is anything wrong in what Sivaram expressed then that should have been answered the same way. His opinion was countered by murder, which is very uncivilised” he said.

Rohitha Bashana, the editorial advisor of Hiru newspaper said the enviornment was being building up for quite some time that he should be eliminated. Therefore, this should be considered as a political challenge.

The media personnel in Sri Lanka should gather up to tackle this political challenge that hinders not only the free media but also the civil society in the country, he added.