The Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate has closed the prosecution case against former Deputy Inspector General Udith Liyanage over an alleged treasure dig inside a shrine, and ordered defence evidence to be called on the 23rd.
Chief Magistrate Siyapath Sasidu Wickramaratne issued the order to the Criminal Investigation Department on Wednesday while concluding the examination of prosecution witnesses, Hiru News reported.
The charges
Two charges are before the court: unauthorised excavation in an attempt to obtain treasure, and conspiracy. The digging is alleged to have taken place inside a devale — a shrine — standing on land with a rock plateau at Thimbirikadawala in Sravasthipura, Anuradhapura.
The investigation was originally handled by Anuradhapura Police and later passed to the CID.
Two defendants are contesting the case and both are in remand custody: Udith Liyanage, described by Hiru as the former Deputy Inspector General in charge of the Colombo Division, who is the seventh suspect in the file and has been held for a long period; and the ninth suspect, an army member named M. Padmasiri Dissanayake. Both pleaded not guilty, and both remain remanded.
Nuwan Rattanayake appeared for the former DIG and Prasad Dharmasena for the former army officer. For the prosecution, CID officers appeared alongside Sub-Inspector Karunananda Wanninayake, officer-in-charge of the case operations division, and Sergeant Ingalasinghe, acting on the instructions of Anuradhapura Headquarters Chief Inspector Rukmal Rathnayake.
Seven earlier pleas, at Rs. 100,000 each
Before Wednesday, seven suspects pleaded guilty and were each fined Rs. 100,000 separately. Hiru says they include the former DIG’s wife and a kattadiya — a ritual specialist.
Those fined are named as D.A. Indrani Kumari Dissanayake of Malwana, Weyangoda; H.M. Eranda Indika Siriwardhana of Sravasthipura, Anuradhapura, identified as the kattadiya; R.M. Gunaratne of Giradurukotte; R.M. Champika Kumara of Vidyala Mawatha, Thihagahawatta, Deraniyagala; K.M. Nilantha Ratnayake of Yanthampalawa, Kurunegala; E.M. Anura Padmasiri of Padavi Sri Pura; and Amir Musthan of Dummaladeniya, Warakapola.
The filing does not say which of the seven is the wife. Only one woman’s name appears in the list.
The ordinals imply a nine-suspect file
Hiru never states how many suspects the case has. The numbers given reconcile to one figure and only one.
Seven suspects were fined. The two contesting are identified as the seventh and the ninth. Seven plus those two is nine, which means the seven who pleaded guilty must be suspects one to six and suspect eight. No other arrangement fits both the count and the ordinals.
This is an inference from the figures in the filing, not a total the filing states.
Two name cautions follow from the same list, and both are the kind that merge people who are not the same. E.M. Anura Padmasiri, who was fined, is not M. Padmasiri Dissanayake, the ninth suspect and a serving army member. And D.A. Indrani Kumari Dissanayake, who was fined, shares a surname with that ninth suspect without any stated connection between them.
The asymmetry the filing does not draw out
The seven who admitted the charges have finished with the case for Rs. 100,000 apiece and no custody. The two who exercised their right to contest it are still in remand — and in Liyanage’s case, Hiru says, have been for a long period, with defence evidence only now about to begin.
Whatever the verdict in November, the pre-trial custody already served by the contesting defendants exceeds the entire penalty imposed on those who admitted taking part. The filing records both outcomes without remarking on the gap between them.
A recurring category of case
Prosecutions over illegal digging for treasure and antiquities have appeared repeatedly this year, and more than once have involved members of the security forces. In August, eight people were arrested over an artefact excavation in Kilinochchi; in September, arrests followed an excavation at Hingurakgoda; and a Special Task Force officer was arrested in Ampara over illegal excavation.
What distinguishes this case is the seniority of the officer charged. Deputy Inspector General is among the most senior ranks in the Sri Lanka Police.
Not reported
The filing does not say when the alleged excavation took place, how long Liyanage has been in remand, whether anything was recovered from the site, or whether the shrine was damaged. It does not say when he left the police or whether he was suspended, interdicted or retired at the time of the alleged offence.
It gives no date for the conclusion of the trial, does not say whether the defendants will give evidence themselves, and does not explain why the case moved from Anuradhapura Police to the CID.
It also does not say whether the seven guilty pleas were entered to both charges or only one, or whether their evidence was used by the prosecution against the two remaining defendants.
This report rests on a single verified newsroom. This desk swept the Daily Mirror’s 14 October filings and checked NewsFirst for their own reports on the hearing and found none; Ada Derana has been unreachable from this desk for several weeks.
