Expert committee requests court order to exhume remains of Dinesh Schaffter

The five-member committee of judicial and forensic medical experts appointed to uncover the actual motive behind the death of famed businessman Dinesh Schaffter has requested the Colombo Magistrate’s Court to issue an order allowing the exhumation of the body of the deceased.

In a written request to the court, the committee explained to the Colombo Additional Magistrate that in order to determine the motive behind the death of the Janashakthi PLC Director, who was found tied up in the driving seat of his car at the Borella cemetery on 15 December 2022.

Accordingly, dates have been fixed for the hearing of the case, for which the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has also been summoned before the court.

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 was appointed to probe the matter as contradictions have been observed in the post-mortem reports.

Reputed businessman Dinesh Schaffter was found tied up in his car at the General Cemetery in Borella on 15 December and died a day later while receiving treatment at the ICU of the National Hospital in Colombo.