Friday, November 30, 2018

Thajudeen killing: Court orders CID to arrest real suspects in murder

Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 01:11 am SL Time, 
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Lankapage LogoNov 29, Colombo: Colombo Additional Magistrate Isuru Neththikumara today ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to take steps to arrest the real suspects in the killing of national rugby player Wasim Thajudeen and produce them in court.

The Criminal Investigation Department informed Court that the former OIC of Narahenpita Crimes Division Sumith Perera, former Senior DIG Western Province Anura Senanayake and former Chief Judicial Medical Officer of Colombo Dr. Ananda Samarasekara could be charged with concealing the evidence of the murder and forging false documents to conceal the evidence.

The Magistrate pointed out that those in remand custody are the charged with concealing evidence in the killing and inquired from the CID what evidence the CID has on the suspects' against them to bring charges of conspiring to murder Thajudeen.

The Magistrate pointed out that from what CID has produced before court there is no insufficient evidence to charge the suspects of the conspiring to murder in the open court.

Responding to this, the CID requested the court to provide a date to show facts after consulting the Attorney General

Accordingly, the Magistrate ordered the case to be called again on February 28 and ordered the CID to inform the court of the facts about the evidence that could be used to bring conspiracy to murder charges against the three suspects on that day.

The Magistrate further stated that the case was a murder case and told the CID to arrest the real suspects of the murder and produce them in the court. He also told the CID if murder charges cannot be brought against the three suspects in custody now, to take steps to prepare a separate case on them.

The Magistrate made inquiries from the CID regarding the current situation of the investigations.
Police responded that statements had been recorded from 1,200 persons and analyzed about 2.2 million telephone conversations regarding the murder. The CID informed the court that it is a highly complex case.

The CID informed the court that information has been revealed about a motor car and a person in the car that had chased behind Thajudeen on the day he was killed and further investigations are being carried out on the CCTV video images.

The CID further said that a request has been made to the NASA to obtain satellite images on the incident but the Institute has not responded yet.

Accordingly, the Magistrate ordered the CID to conduct the investigations without delay and to report to the Court on the 28th of February.

Thajudeen died on May 17, 2012 in Kirulapone when his car crashed into a wall and caught fire. Earlier it was ruled as an accidental death but the investigations by the CID had found that the player was killed before the accident and the accident was staged.

Former Officer-In-Charge of Narahenpita Police Sumith Champika Perera, former Western Province Senior DIG Anura Senanayake and former Colombo Judicial medical officer Prof. Ananda Samarasekara have been arrested in connection with the cover-up after the murder. However, no suspect has been arrested yet for killing the rugby player.