Former Ananda Principal acquitted

Kumudu HETTIARACHCHI

Former Principal of Ananda College, Colombo, B A Abeyratne was acquitted of all charges and discharged by Colombo High Court judge Sunil Rajapakse when the case against him came up for inquiry yesterday morning.

The High Court judge in his judgment delivered in open court said that there is suspicion that two invisible forces had been behind the move to indict the former Ananda Principal.

In this case, the Attorney General had indicted the former Principal on six counts including an attempt to defame Inspector Lionel Weerasekera of the CID by submitting three forged letters for a CID inquiry conducted by him. Attorney D P Kumarasinghe PC who appeared for the defence said the counsel for the plaintiff had not proved the charges against his client beyond reasonable doubt and requested the court to dismiss this case without calling for defence witnesses.

The High Court judge in his judgment said that even though the Attorney General had indicted Abeyratne for defaming Inspector Weerasekera, the Inspector himself had not made such a complaint to any police station. The judge said the manner in which investigation officials have acted in this case also aroused the suspicion of court.

Gihan Kulatunge PC appeared for the plaintiff and D P Kumarasinghe with Mahendra Kumarasinghe and Manoj Nanayakkara appeared for the defence.