The Embilipitiya Magistrate’s Court on Monday ordered the release of police constable Susantha Hettiarachchi in a case arising from a cannabis raid on land said to belong to a relative of National People’s Power Ratnapura District MP Shantha Pathma Kumara Subasingha.
The release was ordered under Section 123 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, on a complaint filed by the Embilipitiya Division Special Crimes Investigation Unit, Hiru News reported.
The order came on the very day the court had directed that charges in the matter be filed. Attorney Punchihewa appeared for Hettiarachchi.
What he was accused of
The investigation unit had placed three charges before the court: unlawful obstruction of the land in question, criminal force and criminal intimidation. Hettiarachchi was not charged over the cannabis cultivation itself — the raid is the event the case arose from, not the conduct alleged against him.
The date was set five months ago
The hearing had been in the diary since June, when the Embilipitiya Chief Magistrate’s Court ordered police to expedite the investigation and listed the matter for 2 November and 20 December.
That order gave police until 26 October to finish recording statements and submit a comprehensive report, and directed that suspects be arrested if necessary before the next hearing. At the time, counsel told the court his client had been arrested within hours of being hospitalised after the incident, while no suspect had been arrested or questioned in a counter-case the constable had filed against the MP.
The June hearing also heard that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka had directed police to reinstate Hettiarachchi, who was then suspended, and that the directive had not been carried out. Hiru now describes him as a former constable; his current service status was not set out in the report.
No order in the counter-case against the MP was reported on Monday.