The magistrate’s inquest into the death of former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena was taken up before Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasekara on Tuesday, with eight witnesses — including former Sri Lanka cricket captain Aravinda de Silva — giving evidence in open court.

Aravinda de Silva, who is related to Chandrasena’s wife, told the court he had no suspicions surrounding the death. He said Chandrasena had asked for a gym mat and a clothing rack on the evening before his death and had appeared reluctant to return to custody after his brief release on bail. “I told him not to worry and that we would sort everything out,” de Silva said in his testimony.

Priyangi Anushka Wijenayake, Chandrasena’s sister-in-law and de Silva’s wife, also testified that she had no doubts about the cause of death and described how the family discovered Chandrasena unresponsive in his room shortly after 7 a.m. that morning. She said he had been “under a lot of stress the previous night.”

The Colombo Crimes Division presented a further investigation report along with two annexures relating to the post-mortem and sought court approval to send two blood samples to the Government Analyst’s Department. CCD officers told court that the belt suspected to have been used in the hanging and unidentified medication recovered at the scene would also be forwarded to the Government Analyst.

Investigators said Chandrasena’s mobile phone is secured by facial recognition and they have been unable to access its contents. Police told court that attempts to unlock the iPhone 16 Pro Max using the deceased’s face after death had failed and sought court approval to forward the device to its parent company or another institution capable of unlocking it. The inquest is being conducted in parallel with the broader Airbus bribery case in which Chandrasena was a key suspect, and the criminal complaint filed by Fair Comment seeking a homicide probe.

Update (May 14): Daily FT reported that the Colombo Crimes Division has formally taken over the death probe and that the secured phone remains inaccessible. The inquest was postponed to today, with court informed that statements from eight additional witnesses remain to be recorded.