Angulana killings:

Suspects remanded till September 11

Roshan Thushara

Mount Lavinia Magistrate Harsha Sethunga yesterday returned a verdict of death due to gunshot injuries of youth Dinesh Tharanga, caused to his head and heart after he was taken into custody by the Angulana Police.

The Magistrate delivered his verdict after recording the evidence at the magisterial inquiry conducted into the killings of two youth Dinesh Tharanga (26) and Dhanushka Udayanga Aponsu (22) on August 12 while they were in Police custody.

OIC of the Special Investigation Unit of the CID Ranjith Munasinghe let the evidence of 13 witnesses before court. The Magistrate returned his verdict following the consideration of these witnesses and other documents produced before the court and the medical report produced by the Judicial Medical Officer of the Kalubowila Teaching Hospital.

The magisterial inquiry was conducted against Police officers Gayan Chathuranga, Roshan Bandara Nawaratne, I.G.Kumarasinghe, Anura Pradeep Kumara, Chamila Thushara Kulasinghe, Dhammika Nihal Jayaratne, D.M.Nissanka, Civil Security Guard Janapriya Senaratne and former OIC of Angulana Police Station K.Newton who served at the Angulana Police station.

The Magistrate ordered that the suspects be further remanded till September 11. He also ordered the CID to submit a comprehensive report of their investigations to court on the next date.

Meanwhile, the postmortem report of the second youth Dhanushka Udayanga Aponsu (22) of Mahajana Mawatha, Angulana who was killed has been submitted to the Moratuwa Magistrate’s Court.

The Special Investigation Unit of the CID ASP Shani Abeysekera appeared for the prosecution. The investigations are being directed by CID DIG Nandana Munasinghe along with CID Director Senior SP Ravi Vadiyalankara.

President’s Counsel Srinath Perera with Attorneys-at-Law Keerthi Athapattu, Rathna Gamage and N.Ershadeen appeared for the aggrieved party.