After the completion of the teacher training course on 18 December 1970, Wimalaratne was appointed as an Assistant Teacher in the Ministry of Education with effect from 1 January 1971 and was attached to the Abhayapura College in Trincomalee. Wimalaratne was arrested at his home on 16 March 1971 by the Trincomalee Police on suspicion of involvement in the 1971 JVP insurrection and remanded in Anuradhapura. Arrested, he was produced before the Trincomalee Magistrate's Court every two weeks from 16 March 1971. On 18 April 1971, his father went to court but was not allowed to enter court. Due to a confrontation with Sergeant Banda with Wimalaratne's father at the court, later in the evening Sergeant Banda came home in a Morris Minor car, and his father was taken away to take a statement. His father was later tied up in a sack, tortured with chili smoke and tortured to death. The bodies of the other suspects were taken to the Nilaweli and cremated in the 'torture well' there.