Police have recorded statements from ten employees of the Panadura Magistrate’s Court over the disappearance of two case files in proceedings against the organised crime figure and drug trafficker known as “Kudu Salindu”, Ada Derana reported.
Seven of the ten are women, Panadura Division Senior Superintendent of Police Nishan de Silva said.
The investigation began after the Registrar of the Panadura Magistrate’s Court lodged a complaint with Panadura South Police Headquarters on September 1 reporting the files missing. Facts were placed before the court in a “B” report, and the Panadura Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau took over the inquiry.
What the two files contain
The missing files relate to two separate prosecutions.
One concerns a murder committed in the Panadura North area, allegedly on the instructions of “Kudu Salindu”. The other is a case filed by the Criminal Investigation Department under the Money Laundering Act.
The loss surfaced through the CID. According to the report, the department was unable to locate a report relating to a case called before the court by motion on August 28; the matter was put off to be called again on August 31. Subsequent checks established that the case files themselves were missing.
Last accounted for on their way to be photocopied
Preliminary inquiries indicate the files were handed to an office assistant to have copies made and were afterwards placed in the court’s archives, and that they disappeared from there.
Police are expected to examine footage from the CCTV system installed inside the court complex as part of the investigation.
Ada Derana did not report whether anyone has been suspended or arrested, whether either prosecution can proceed without the originals, or whether duplicates exist. No date was given for the next call of either case.
Who “Kudu Salindu” is
Ada Derana names him as Salindu Malsitha Gunaratne. Our earlier reporting has rendered the middle name Malshitha — the form used when the Panadura network’s Rs. 40mn in assets were frozen in May — and Sri Lankan outlets also refer to him as “Panadura Kudu Salindu”.
He is one of a group of drug network principals police have targeted in a run of operations against organised crime, several of whom are said to direct their networks from overseas. Police arrested two of his associates in Payagala with crystal methamphetamine in an earlier operation, and named his faction as a suspected party to a fatal shooting in Payagala on August 31.
No other verified newsroom had reported the missing files at the time of writing.
