Wijewardhana was serving as SP Jaffna during the
Norwegian cease-fire agreement, when in the afternoon of 4 August 2005 a barber Jayaseelan Shantharuban was wounded in an
accidencial discharge of a
service rifle of group of soldiers who had come to the saloon for a haircut in Inuvil, Jaffna. The soldiers fled to their camp away and Shantharuban was pronounced dead on admission to the Jaffna General Hospital. Within ninety minutes, as word spread of Shantharuban's death, a large crowd gathered at the Inuvil junction and began demanding the surrender of the soldiers, claiming that the shooting was deliberate. Soon the crowd became violent putting up roadblocks by cutting down trees, pelting stones at vehicles and burning tyres, disrupting traffic on the main Jaffna-Kankesanthurai road. Police officers from nearby Achchuveli and Chunnakam police stations were rushed along with a riot squad to control the mob. The riot squad engaged the rioters for two hours. Wijewardena arrived with police reinforcements, as the senior officer present, Wijewardena ordered his men to hold their position and proceeded alone into the crowd to talk to them in an attempt to calm the situation, as he had done in a previous similar situation. As dusk was setting in, the police officers did not see Wijewardena being abducted and soon realised that he was missing. The police immediately informed the Scandinavian representatives of the
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission about the disappearance of the officer while a search operation was mounted.
Mallakam Magistrate, Sarjoini Illangovan who had been preparing to go to the barber salon to conduct the inquiry into the shooting was informed that Wijewardena's body had been spotted away from the location he was abducted. The magistrate visited the location at Palavodai along the Inuvil-Sudhumalai road where Wijewardena's body had been found. His body retained his police uniform tunic, yet the uniform trousers had been removed and he was clad in a sarong. His body had cut and stab injuries, and the Magistrate ordered an autopsy. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Senior Superintendent of Police, prior to his funeral, on 7 August 2005 at the General Cemetery in Kurunegala, with full police honours. His wife and three children, were living in official quarters in Kurunegala at the time of his death. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of
Deputy Inspector General of Police. ==Aftermath==