Lasantha Wickremethunga murder: Suspects granted bail
KAVINDYA PERERA- JUL 16 2018
Mount Lavinia (MTL) Chief Magistrate Mohammad Mihal has granted bail to Former Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Prasanna Nanayakkara and Former Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of the MTL Police Crimes Division Tissa Sugathadasa who were arrested and imprisoned over the murder of Former Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickremathunga.
The MTL Chief Magistrate ordered Nanayakkara and Sugathadasa to be released on cash bail of Rs 50,000 and sureties of Rs one million each.
Addressing the Court, the MTL Chief Magistrate said that only the MTL Chief Magistrate’s Court was empowered to grant bail to the two defendants in the case. The MTL Chief Magistrate told the Court that he was granting bail to the two suspects under the proviso that they will neither intimidate witnesses in the case nor scuttle the ongoing investigations and warned that if found to be guilty of either offence he will promptly revoke their bail and incarcerate them. MTL Chief Magistrate Mihal afterwards ordered the passports of the two suspects to be impounded before ordering them to appear before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on the last Sunday of each month.
However, as the two suspects despite being granted bail failed to fulfill the bail conditions, they were taken back to the prison by prison officers and the Chief Magistrate advised them to fulfill the bail conditions through a motion tomorrow (17).
Nanayakkara was arrested by the CID on 14 February for allegedly having concealed evidence regarding the murder of the Editor. He was the SDIG in charge of the Western Province (South) at the time of Wickremathunga’s murder while the area of MTL came under his supervision. Nanayakkara is facing charges of aiding and abetting in destroying vital evidence in the investigations into the killing of the former Journalist.
Sugathadasa, the Former OIC of the MTL Police Crimes Division was apprehended by the CID on 2 February.
Wickremathunga, the Founding Editor of the Sunday Leader, was murdered by two assailants who had followed him on a motorcycle on 8 January, 2009, in Attidiya, Ratmalana.
The case was put off to 27 September.
The MTL Chief Magistrate ordered Nanayakkara and Sugathadasa to be released on cash bail of Rs 50,000 and sureties of Rs one million each.
Addressing the Court, the MTL Chief Magistrate said that only the MTL Chief Magistrate’s Court was empowered to grant bail to the two defendants in the case. The MTL Chief Magistrate told the Court that he was granting bail to the two suspects under the proviso that they will neither intimidate witnesses in the case nor scuttle the ongoing investigations and warned that if found to be guilty of either offence he will promptly revoke their bail and incarcerate them. MTL Chief Magistrate Mihal afterwards ordered the passports of the two suspects to be impounded before ordering them to appear before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on the last Sunday of each month.
However, as the two suspects despite being granted bail failed to fulfill the bail conditions, they were taken back to the prison by prison officers and the Chief Magistrate advised them to fulfill the bail conditions through a motion tomorrow (17).
Nanayakkara was arrested by the CID on 14 February for allegedly having concealed evidence regarding the murder of the Editor. He was the SDIG in charge of the Western Province (South) at the time of Wickremathunga’s murder while the area of MTL came under his supervision. Nanayakkara is facing charges of aiding and abetting in destroying vital evidence in the investigations into the killing of the former Journalist.
Sugathadasa, the Former OIC of the MTL Police Crimes Division was apprehended by the CID on 2 February.
Wickremathunga, the Founding Editor of the Sunday Leader, was murdered by two assailants who had followed him on a motorcycle on 8 January, 2009, in Attidiya, Ratmalana.
The case was put off to 27 September.
