The committee appointed to inquire into the Mahara prison riot is currently recording evidence at the prison.

Justice Minister Ali Sabry appointed a committee to look into the recent violent incident at the Mahara Prison.

Chaired by retired High Court Judge Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena the Committee comprises of President’s Counsel U. R. de Silva, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Justice Rohana Hapugaswatte, former Commissioner of Prisons Gamini Jayasinghe, and former Senior DIG Lalinda Ranaweera.

The role of the committee is to look into the causes of the Mahara prison riot and make necessary recommendations on the course of action to be taken.

In addition, the Committee is also to make recommendations for short-term action within a week.

Accordingly, the Committee visited the Mahara Prison today (03).

Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has so far recorded statements from 26 people regarding the incident, Police Media Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said.

Statements have been recorded from 8 medical officers, and 2 male nurses who worked at the prison hospital, 10 prison officers including the Chief Jailor, and 6 inmates who were hospitalized after being injured in the incident.

DIG Rohana added that further investigations will be carried out to determine whether there was any provocation, conspiracy, or abetting for the incident by considering the statements of the injured and prison officials, and the assessment reports of the damage to the prison.

The CID launched its investigations into the matter on December 01.