Security around Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena has been strengthened after he received a letter containing an alleged death threat, NewsFirst reported on Wednesday evening.
An investigation has been launched on the instructions of the Inspector General of Police. Police said the Criminal Investigation Department has recorded a statement from the magistrate in connection with the matter.
A complaint about the threatening letter has also been lodged with the Judicial Service Commission, the constitutional body responsible for the appointment, transfer and discipline of judicial officers below the appellate courts.
NewsFirst reports that the letter was received on August 11 — some seven weeks before the investigation and the additional protection were made public. The account does not explain the interval, say what the letter contained, or indicate whether anyone has been identified.
The court in question
Amarasena presides over one of the busiest courts in the country for high-profile prosecutions. Hours before the threat was reported, he granted bail to SLPP parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa in the Criminal Investigation Department’s money laundering case arising from SriLankan Airlines’ Airbus procurement, and had twice previously refused him bail in the same file.
The Fort Magistrate’s Court is also hearing the CID case against former president Ranil Wickremesinghe and former presidential secretary Saman Ekanayake over a 2023 official trip to the United Kingdom, which was called again on Wednesday.
Nothing in the NewsFirst report links the threat to any particular case, and no police statement published so far names a motive or a suspect.
What is not settled
No other verified newsroom had filed on the threat at the time of writing. The August 11 date, the scope of the CID inquiry and the nature of the security upgrade all rest on this single account and are not yet independently confirmed.
