Lawyers claim wife, daughter and mother of Champika’s driver abducted

Colombo Magistrate’s Court ordered the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) to produce a report on the progress of the investigations carried out on MP Patali Champika Ranawaka and his driver with regard to a motor accident in 2016.

The case was taken up before Colombo Additional Magistrate Kanchana Niranjala de Silva, today (16), over a motion filed by the attorneys representing the parliamentarian.

MP Patali Champika Ranawaka was also present during the court proceedings.
The magistrate pointed out at the court that MP Ranawaka or his driver Dilum Thusitha Kumara has not been named suspects of the case.

Attorney Gunaratne Wanninayake, appearing on behalf of the MP stated that his client’s driver had pleaded guilty in connection with a car accident in 2016 and subsequently, the case has been closed.

However, the CCD has re-launched the investigations alleging that details of the accident had been covered up, pointed out Attorney Wanninayake.

He further informed the court that a group of officers of CCD including Police Inspector Metthananda had kidnapped the wife and the one-and-half-year-old daughter of the aforementioned driver from their home in Imaduwa, Galle to a house in Battaramulla, last night.

Stating that this incident has induced great fear within his client, the Attorney requested the court to record the matter.

However, Chief Inspector Neville De Silva of the Colombo Crimes Division informed the court that no suspects have been named for this case incident.

While acknowledging that they escorted the wife, the child and the mother of the driver to Battaramulla, he stated that they were brought in because they volunteered their support for the investigations.

He informed the court that the team of officers had visited the home of the MP’s driver to record a statement. However, the driver had not been at home when the officers arrived.

When the wife had phoned the driver, he had made a statement that he is at a house in Battaramulla, de Silva added.

He said that the wide and the mother then volunteered to show the officer the directions to the aforementioned place and accordingly, the police escorted them to the location.

He affirmed that there had not been an incident of abduction with regard to the matter.

The Chief Inspector further said that the women were transported on a vehicle bearing the license number CAQ 0532, and not in the vehicle bearing the number 64-8736 as per reported by the attorneys of the parliamentarian.

Subsequently, the Magistrate instructed the police to conduct further investigations regarding the case in accordance with the powers vested by the Penal Code.

The Magistrate further instructed the police to produce a report on the progress of the investigation on the 14th of February.

When the attorney representing MP Ranawaka informed the court that their party is expecting to seek a court order to ease the travel ban imposed on his client, the Magistrate responded that they are able to make the request under the normal procedure.

In 2016, the vehicle in which the former Megapolis and Western Province Development Minister was traveling in had collided against a motorcycle, causing life-threatening injuries to its rider.

The injured youth was identified as Sandeepa Sampath from the Godagama area.

A friend of this youth came forward saying he had given a chase to the vehicle that caused the accident and that it was MP Patali Champika who had driven the vehicle.

Despite the youth’s testimony, another person had surrendered to the Borella Police over the incident.

Although footage obtained from CCTV cameras were used in the investigation, the footage from the day of the incident had already erased, the police had told the court when the case was taken up in March 2016.

However, the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) recently presented submissions to the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on the alleged hit-and-run case.

The CCD sought the court to temporarily suspend the foreign travels of the parliamentarian and the person who claimed to have driven the vehicle at the time of the incident.

Taking the request into consideration, the magistrate temporarily imposed an overseas on Ranawaka and his then-driver.

When Ada Derana visited Sandeepa’s place yesterday (14), his parents called for justice for their son. Despite meeting then-Minister Ranawaka three times, their pleas fell on deaf ears, they said while urging the current government to take the matter up.

The youth’s parents revealed that a police officer had visited them at their home and requested them to withdraw the entry they had made with the police saying that his job was on the line.