Indian chef’s murder case:

Restaurant owner’s wife remanded

Suranjith PERERA, Dehiwela-Mt Lavinia Group Corr

The woman suspect in the Big Banana Restaurant chef’s murder case was ordered to be remanded till July 16 by Mount Lavinia Additional Magistrate Ruchira Wellawatte after considering the police report to court that misleading conflicting facts were given to police by the suspect.

Police questioned a CID Inspector of Police and restaurant owner over the murder of the Indian national employee Thevaraja Selvaraja whose body was dumped in the sea at Mundalama, near Chilaw.

Suspect Shivakumar Shivani, wife of the owner of Big Banana Restaurant was arrested by Wellawatte Police in connection with the murder. Police reported to court that the suspect had first made an entry at the police station that the chef had gone missing but when Selvaraja’s body was found, she had told the police that she had seen the body lying on the pavement opposite the house he lived, the day after he died.

Police also reported to court that the deceased’s parts of internal organs had been sent to the Colombo North Teaching Hospital for examination and report.

In addition, scrapings from a patch of blood found in the house of the murdered man, the bed sheets, some liquor and water were sent to the criminal investigations unit Borella, Wellawatte police informed court.

The Magistrate ordered police to conduct further investigations without interruption and to report in which court the prosecution is to be conducted by the police.