Following the recent unrest that broke out at the Negombo Remand Prison on July 5 and 6, 2026, social media has been flooded with various video clips and photos of the incident. Among these, a video showing several female inmates protesting on the prison roof quickly became a major talking point among local netizens.

Shortly after the footage went viral, a highly emotional post began circulating in both Sinhala and Tamil on Facebook and Instagram. Featuring a photograph of one of the female inmates on the roof, the post claimed she was a brilliant Medical Faculty student who was jailed after being led astray by her lover.

The tragic “love story” struck a chord with the public, so much so that even several mainstream local media outlets ran the story as factual news.

However, an investigation by FactSeeker has revealed that this heart-wrenching tale is entirely fabricated and originated from a creative writing post on Facebook.

Archive of Misleading Claims

The following social media links show how the fabricated story was widely circulated across different platforms and languages:

Sinhala Language Sources:

• Facebook Reel: Link to Viral Video

• Facebook Profile Post: Link to Viral Story

• Travel Group Post: Link to Shared Post

• Public Page Post: Link to News Post

• Community Group Post: Link to Shared Story

Tamil Language Sources:

• Tamil Page Post 1: Link to Translated Story

• Tamil Page Post 2: Link to Shared Post

• Tamil Video Reel: Link to Viral Tamil Reel

Instagram Source:

• Instagram Post: Link to Image/Text Post

The Viral Claim
The Narrative: Viral social media posts claimed that the young female inmate seen protesting on the roof of the Negombo Prison was a university student selected for the Medical Faculty. According to the posts, she ended up behind bars after taking the fall for a crime committed by her boyfriend.

The Alleged Source: Almost all shared versions of the story credited the report to an “Investigative Journalist” named Nalinda Danaranjan.

The Fact-Check: What We Found
1. The Mysterious “Investigative Journalist”
FactSeeker first looked into the credentials of “Nalinda Danaranjan” to verify if he was a registered journalist working for any mainstream news agency in Sri Lanka. Our search yielded no records of any investigative journalist or writer by that name operating within the local media landscape.

2. Tracing the Original Source
Digging deeper into local digital networks, FactSeeker located two Facebook accounts belonging to the individual in question: a photography page named “Clicked By Naalinda” and a personal profile under the name “Naalinda Danaranjan“.

While his photography page featured standard modeling portfolios, the creative write-up about the female inmate was found published on his personal profile.

3. Author Admits the Story is Pure Fiction
To verify the authenticity of the claim, FactSeeker cross-referenced findings from fellow independent fact-checking organization Fact Crescendo, who managed to contact Nalinda Danaranjan directly over the phone.

When questioned regarding the viral post, Nalinda Danaranjan openly admitted that the entire story about the female medical student was purely a work of fiction written from his own imagination. He confirmed he had absolutely no personal knowledge of the female inmate in the photograph, nor did he know the actual reason for her incarceration.

4. Prisons Department Refutes the Claim
FactSeeker also contacted the Acting Media Spokesperson for the Department of Prisons, Mr. Gayanayaka, to obtain official clarification.

He stated that the Prisons Department has absolutely no records or information to suggest that any female inmate involved in the Negombo Prison incident was a medical student, officially refuting the claims being circulated online.

Verdict: FALSE
The viral story claiming that a female inmate from the Negombo Prison protest is a victimized medical student is completely false. The original author of the post has confirmed that the narrative was a self-created piece of fiction that was unfortunately misconstrued as real news.

This incident serves as a classic example of how easily fictional stories can be weaponized or mistaken for reality on Sri Lankan social media circles, sometimes even misleading mainstream journalists. Netizens are strongly urged to verify the authenticity of emotional or sensationalist posts before sharing them online.