The Government Analyst has filed a forensic report with the Anuradhapura Magistrate’s Court in the case against Venerable Pallegama Hemarathana Thera, the former chief custodian of Anuradhapura’s eight sacred sites, who is accused of the rape of a minor.
The report states that a rug seized as a production in the case carried semen belonging to the suspect, the Daily Mirror reported. It also found that hair strands recovered from the rug and submitted for analysis were not those of the girl alleged to have been raped, but those of another woman. No blood stains were visible on the rug, the analyst reported.
The rug was taken by police during the investigation because the complainant had told Nittambuwa Police that the monk wiped away semen with a rug at the foot of his bed. She identified his room and its contents, including the bed and the rug.
The findings were entered of record in case No. B22424/2026, and a copy of the report has been sent to the Attorney General.
Case pushed to January 2027
The Anuradhapura Magistrate — named by the Daily Mirror as Pasindu Wickremaratne — postponed the case to January 8, 2027, pending the Attorney General’s advice. That is a delay of more than four months from Tuesday’s mention.
Investigations at the scene were conducted by a team that included the Officer-in-Charge of the Gampaha Division Women and Children’s Bureau, IP Vinicia Premaratne, and IP Wasundara Gunaratne, working with Anuradhapura Police.
Earlier reporting in the case named the bench differently: when the DNA order was made in June, the Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate was reported as Siyapath Sasidu Wickramaratne. It is not clear from Tuesday’s report whether the same judicial officer is meant, and no outlet has reconciled the two renderings.
Where the case stands
The forensic report is the first substantive result to reach the court from an evidentiary process that has run since spring. The Chief Magistrate ordered Hemarathana’s arrest on May 8 following an application by the National Child Protection Authority, on a Nittambuwa complaint of March 6 alleging the abduction and detention of a 15-year-old girl. He was granted bail later in May, and the Malwathu Chapter suspended him from the Atamasthanadhipathi role on May 30 pending the outcome of the case.
In June the court ordered him to give a blood sample for DNA testing, directing the Government Analyst to file the results once complete. The sample was taken on June 16.
The Daily Mirror did not report whether the semen finding derives from that DNA comparison or from separate testing, did not say whose hair the second sample was matched to, and gave no indication of what weight the prosecution attaches to that finding. The Attorney General’s advice, now the gating step, will determine whether the case proceeds to indictment.
Daily Mirror was the only verified newsroom carrying the forensic report when this article was filed on Tuesday afternoon.
