Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to investigate immediately, and report back to court, an alleged attempt to sell land at Kollupitiya worth Rs. 704 million using forged deeds, Hiru News reported.
The order was made on Thursday when the case was called.
What investigators told the court
CID officers said an investigation into the land had already begun, and asked the court to order the release of documents — including the deeds — held by the Nugegoda and Colombo Land Registrar’s Offices.
Their account of the alleged method was specific: documents relating to the land that had been submitted to the Nugegoda Land Registrar’s Office were removed, and forged documents were filed at the Colombo Land Registrar’s Office in their place.
The Chief Magistrate, after hearing those facts, ordered the investigation to proceed and the findings reported to court. He separately directed the Nugegoda and Colombo Land Registrars to hand the relevant documents to the CID.
Why the registry detail matters
Sri Lanka’s land registries hold the authoritative record of title. A forgery that succeeds at the registry stage can give a fraudulent transfer the appearance of a clean paper trail, which is what makes a property of this value saleable or mortgageable to a party acting in good faith. The filing describes an attempt; it does not say the land changed hands.
Not reported: no suspect is named and the filing does not say whether anyone has been arrested, produced or remanded. It does not identify the registered owner, say who alerted the authorities, or state what stage the attempted sale had reached. It does not say whether any registry official is under suspicion, nor whether this matter is connected to earlier forged-deed investigations involving Colombo land registries. No date is given for the next court appearance.
Readers should note that forged-deed cases involving high-value Kollupitiya property have come before the Colombo courts before. This report concerns the matter heard on 8 October 2026 before Chief Magistrate Bodaragama, and no link to any earlier case is asserted by the source.
