The Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court has ordered that notice be issued to former minister Duminda Dissanayake to appear at a future hearing after the Attorney General told the court there is now sufficient evidence to name him as a suspect in the gold-plated T-56 assault rifle case.
The order, issued on Friday, follows guidance from the Attorney General that fresh material gathered by investigators warrants Dissanayake’s re-listing as a suspect in the long-running probe.
Dissanayake was first arrested in May 2025 in connection with a gold-plated T-56 assault rifle recovered from an apartment at the Havelock City complex in Wellawatte. Two women aged 40 and 68 were initially detained over the weapon before the investigation was transferred to the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID).
Following the TID’s inquiries the former minister was produced before court but was subsequently released after prosecutors told the bench there was insufficient evidence to proceed against him at that stage. The Attorney General has now reversed that position, informing the Mount Lavinia bench that sufficient evidence exists to pursue the case.
The case is distinct from the Colombo Crimes Division recovery of two revolvers tied to detained suspect “Wanathe Duminda” in the Sahaspura killing, which involves an underworld figure with a similar first name but no connection to the former minister.
The court will set a date for Dissanayake’s appearance as proceedings resume.
Update (August 4): indictments filed in the High Court
The Attorney General has filed indictments against Dissanayake before the Colombo High Court over the discovery of the gold-plated T-56, NewsFirst reported on Tuesday.
Indictments have also been filed against Aigul Sheragzina, a second suspect connected to the case.
The filing moves the matter out of the magistrate’s court and into the High Court for trial, closing a sequence that ran for more than a year. NewsFirst reported that Dissanayake was arrested on May 23, 2025 and remanded after being produced before the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court, then released on bail on July 29, 2025 by then Magistrate Chathurika de Silva, who cited the absence of direct and circumstantial evidence linking him to the case.
The June 19 notices ordering him back before court were issued by Mount Lavinia Magistrate Kanchana N. Silva on a request from the Criminal Investigation Department, after the Attorney General advised that sufficient evidence existed to name him a suspect. Those notices required him to appear on July 7.
Hiru News independently confirmed the filing on Wednesday, reporting that the Attorney General has indicted Dissanayake before the Colombo High Court over the recovery of the gold-plated T-56 from an apartment at the Havelock City complex, and that the other suspect in the case, Aigul Sheragzina, has been indicted alongside him. Two accused face the charges in total.
Update (September 10): indictments served, both accused bailed
Indictments were served on Dissanayake and a second, female accused before the Colombo High Court on Thursday, Hiru News reported.
The High Court judge ordered the release of both accused on bail once the indictments had been served.
This is the procedural step that follows the August filing. Filing lodges the charges with the court; service formally puts them to the accused in open court and opens the case for trial. The bail order returns Dissanayake to the position he held before the June notices — at liberty, but now as an indicted accused in the High Court rather than a suspect in a magistrate’s inquiry.
Hiru does not state the charges, name the second accused, give the bail conditions or set a trial date. It refers to the weapon as a gold-plated firearm rather than specifying the T-56, and does not say whether the case is now fixed for a further date.
The bench and the bail terms
NewsFirst supplied both. The case was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Udesh Ranatunga, who ordered the release of the two accused after the indictments were served.
Each accused was released on cash bail of Rs. 50,000 and two surety bails of Rs. 2 million each.
NewsFirst also dates the Attorney General’s filing of the indictments to August 5, where NewsFirst’s own earlier report gave August 4 and Hiru’s confirmation ran on August 5. The one-day spread is not resolved by any outlet; the filing and its reporting fell across the same two days.
Like Hiru, NewsFirst declines to name the second accused, describing her only as “another woman” — the archive record from the August filing names her as Aigul Sheragzina. NewsFirst confirms Dissanayake was arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Division on 23 May 2025, and refers to the weapon as a gold-coloured T-56, where earlier reporting across outlets has used gold-plated.
Neither outlet states the charges on the indictment or gives a trial date.
Sources: Newswire, NewsFirst, Hiru News, Hiru News, NewsFirst.
