Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi alias ‘Navy Sampath’ arrested in connection with the abduction, torture, extortion and murder of 11 persons in 2008 and 2009, was yesterday ordered to be remanded till August 29 by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court.
Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne after taking into consideration the seriousness of the alleged offenses, ordered the CID to initiate separate legal action against the suspect over a number of other offenses including preparing a fake Passport, preparing a fake National Identity Card and for the crime of pretending to be another individual.
OIC of CID’s Gang Robbery Unit-Chief Inspector Nishantha Silva said they have initiated a probe into an incident where Rs.500,000 had been transferred to a bank account belonging to the suspect by the Sri Lanka Navy.
The Magistrate directed the manager of a state bank that relevant documents pertaining to the bank transactions be provided to the CID for further investigations.
The arrest had been made by the CID’s Gang Robbery Unit under Chief Inspector Nishantha Silva in Colombo last Monday (13).
‘He was impersonating a guard named Polwattage Gallage Ashoka. He had been working as a guard in an estate in Dompe.We were able to recover a fake National Identity Card and a fake Passport. He had prepared a fake Passport using this fake NIC to travel to Malaysia on April 17, 2017. He had returned to the island on March 13, 2018, using this fake passport’, Chief Inspector Silva said.
Meanwhile, Counsel Ajith Prasanna appearing on behalf of the suspect told court that his client was compelled to evade court for fear of being arrested by the CID.
Counsel sought adequate security for the suspect. He said money had been transferred to his client’s bank account following his acquittal over the murder of MP Nadaraja Raviraj by the Colombo High Court.
Hettiarachchi was in the Sri Lanka Navy in the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
He was wanted by police in connection with kidnapping for ransom, illegal detention and murder of 11 youth in 2008 and 2009.
Previously, he had been issued an open warrant to be arrested by the Fort Magistrate’s Court.
The CID is currently investigating the abduction and disappearance of 11 youth and several navy personnel have been arrested in this connection including former Navy spokesman Commodore D.K.P. Dassanayake.
The CID is investigating the abduction and disappearance of 11 youth based on a written complaint by then Navy Commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda to the DIG CID on May 28, 2009 against his personal security officer, then Lt. Commander Nilantha Sampath Munasinghe following which the CID was able to uncover the Navy’s involvement with the abductions.
Those abducted were Kasthuriarachchilage John Rit alias John, Rajiv Naganathan alias Malli, Pradeep Vishvanathan, Tillakeshwaran Ramalingam, Mohomed Sajith, Jamamdeen Dilan, Amalan Leon, Roshan Leon, Anthony Kasthuriarachchi, Theagaraja Jegan and Mohomed Ali Anver alias Hajiya.
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