Expert committee appointed to probe cause of Schaffter’s death

The Colombo Additional Magistrate Rajindra Jayasuriya has appointed the five-member expert committee consisting of five judicial and forensic medical experts in order to compile a report on the death of famed businessman Dinesh Schaffter.

Accordingly, Prof. Asela Mendis, Prof. U.C.P. Perera, Prof. D.N.P. Fernando, Dr. Sivasubramaniam and Dr. Ruwanpura have been appointed to the relevant investigative committee.

The expert panel will conclude the cause of Shafter’s death and present it to the court.

Later, the relevant inquest has been ordered to be called on March 14 before the courts.

On February 17, the Colombo Additional Magistrate ordered the appointment of a five-member expert committee to compile a report on Schaffter’s death, and called for a list of senior Judicial Medical Officers (JMOs) from the Director General of Health Services, while the University Grants Commission (UGC) was also ordered to submit a list of senior university lecturers who specialize in forensic medicine.

Upon receiving the two lists, an experts’ committee will be appointed to probe the matter as contradictions have been observed in the post-mortem reports.

The Janashakthi PLC Director was found tied up in the driving seat of his car at the Borella cemetery on 15 December 2022, and was rushed to the ICU of the National Hospital in Colombo, where he passed away while undergoing treatment.