News

News

Foreign Ministry on alleged death threats
The attention of the Foreign Ministry has been drawn to recent reports and comments referring to alleged death threats received by a forensic expert in India, appearing in The Sunday Times of March 20 and the Divaina of March 22, 2005.

The reports alleged that these threatening calls emanated from the Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi. The ministry wishes to categorically state these allegations are baseless.

Prior to these media reports, an investigation was already underway and a CID team visited India on March 15, 2005 for this purpose. The investigators confirmed that the calls in question had not emanated from the High Commission. The CID investigation had identified the caller who has no connection to the High Commission.

Our reporter says: The Sunday Times reported last week that the alleged death threat to the forensic Indian expert Prof. P.Chandrasekaran who is providing expert evidence in a criminal case in Sri Lanka had emanated from the Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi. It has now been revealed that the CID detectives checked on this information but found no evidence to prove the suspicion.

The CID team despatched to India to check on death threats being made to Prof. Chandrasekaran had found no such evidence, despite preliminary investigations indicating that the caller was an Indian staffer in the Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi.

The CID has now identified the caller to be someone else in India. Meanwhile, special prosecutor, S. Thurairajah who is handling the case on behalf of the state is yet to receive protection following a complaint he has made to having also received death threats.

Mr. Thurairajah is prosecuting in the case where former Army Spokesman Sumedha Perera, former Bar Association Secretary Bandula Wijesinghe and Sarath Wijewardena, a caretaker are indicted for forging documents to take possession of a property in Rajagiriya owned by Fredrick Wimaladharama Obeysekera.

Top

Back to News