It has been revealed that a secret report of a legal officer has led to the removal of the indictment against the former Navy Commander accused of abducting and disappearing eleven persons including youths. Additional Solicitor General Nerin Pulle, appearing for the Attorney General, said this while hearing a petition filed by relatives of the missing persons in the Court of Appeal yesterday (01) seeking annulment of the Attorney General’s decision to drop the indictment filed against former Navy Commander Karannagoda.
Judges Sobhitha Rajakaruna and Dhammika Ganepola yesterday ordered that the confidential report of the Attorney General’s Department be submitted to the Court of Appeal.
Achala Seneviratne, Attorney-at-Law, Saroja Govinda Sami Naganathan alias M. Sarojini Perera, Jamaldeen, Jenny Faslinjenifer Weerasinghe, DM Jayasinghe, Weerasinghe Attorney General Sanjaya Rajaratnam and former Navy Commander Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda have been named as respondents in the writ petition filed by four relatives of the missing Sabdeen.
The Attorney General should issue an interim injunction suspending the effectiveness of the decision taken by the respondent Navy Commander to withdraw the indictment and issue a writ order compelling the Attorney General to continue the case filed against the accused former Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda. The petitioners are appealing to the Court of Appeal in their petitions.
Admiral of the Field Wasantha Kumara, the former Commander of the Navy, has filed 167 indictments against 66 men, 126 witnesses and 64 cases of abduction, extortion and disappearance of 11 Colombo residents during the height of the war in 2008-2009. The Attorney General had informed the Colombo High Court and the Court of Appeal that the case against Jayadeva Karannagoda would not be continued.
Kasturi Arachchila’s John Reit, Anthony Kasturi Arachchi, Rajiv Naganathan, Pradeep Vishwanathan, Mohammad Sajith, Tilakeshwaram Ramalingam, Jamaldin Dylan, Amalan Leone, Roshan Leone, Kanakarajah Jagan, and Mohammad Ali Anwar have been abducted. Investigations revealed that the navy officers had extorted money from their parents to release the abducted youths. According to the CID, several of the abductees were killed in Colombo and another at the Navy’s Trincomalee Gun Side Camp.
Navy Intelligence Officer Lieutenant Commander Hettiarachchi Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi, Media Spokesman and Deputy Director of Naval Operations Commander Dassanayake Kamkanamge Rana, Special Intelligence Officer Ihalagedara Dharmadasa, Rajapaksa Pathirana’s Kithsiri, Kasthuriarachchige Gamini, Master Chief Minor Officer Muthuvahennadige Aruna Thushara Mendis, former Navy Commander Karannagoda’s bodyguard Lieutenant Commander Munasinghearachchi’s Nilantha Sampath Munasinghe and 14 others.
Another accused, Rear Admiral D.K.P Dasanayake, has retired from the Navy with full honors without any investigation.
The Navy has also announced that a salute was held for the retirement of Dasanayake, a former Navy Spokesman who joined the service in 1987.