The body of late Janashakthi Group Director Dinesh Schaffter was exhumed under special police protection at the Borella Cemetery today.
The body has been identified by Mr. Schaffter’s father Chandra and brother Ramesh.
Mr.Schaffter’s body was exhumed under the supervision of Additional Magistrate Rajindra Jayasuriya.
The five-member panel of medical experts appointed to investigate Mr. Schaffter’s death requested the Colombo Magistrate’s Court to exhume his body in order to find the cause of death.
Even though the court has informed that the exhumation of the body should be carried out openly, the journalists said that the police prevented the journalists from entering the cemetery.
However, the journalists have been allowed to enter the cemetery after a while and they have been stationed 30 meters away from the exhumation site.
Colombo Additional Magistrate Jayasuriya earlier rejected a request made by the relatives of Mr. Schaffter to conduct the exhumation without the presence of media.
President’s Counsel Anuja Premaratne who appeared on behalf of the relatives of the deceased made a request to allow the exhumation of Mr. Schaffter’s body to be carried out in private in the presence of the family pathologist.
The Magistrate said that a special committee has been appointed to conduct investigations independently and that she did not want to influence the committee’s affairs. The Magistrate rejected the requests and ordered the family members to be present at the exhumation site by 8.30 am today (25).
Several spells of showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Nuwara-Eliya, Kandy, Galle and Matara districts today (July 03), the Department of Meteorology said.
Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in the Uva province and in Ampara and Batticaloa districts during the afternoon or night.
Meanwhile, fairly strong winds of about 30-40 kmph can be expected at times over Western slopes of the central hills and in Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Trincomalee and Hambantota districts.
The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
The Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Kahawatte Police has been transferred to the Jaffna Police Division to facilitate the investigation into the youth who was shot dead on June 30 in Kahawatte, Police said.
A 22-year-old youth died while another was critically injured in a shooting incident in the Yainna area of Kahawatte.
The list of eligible families selected for the second phase of the ‘Aswesuma’ welfare benefit allowance has been officially released.
The list has been displayed on the notice boards of all Divisional Secretariat offices and Grama Niladhari officers as well as in the offices of the relevant field officers in charge of the subject. It has also been published on the official website of the Welfare Benefits Board, (www.wbb.gov.lk).
Furthermore, applicants who believe there is an error or any changes in the information provided during the second stage of data collection, and whose names are not included in the list of eligible candidates, have the opportunity to submit an appeal.
Additionally, individuals who submitted initial applications for ‘Aswesuma’ Phase 2 but were not visited by a government field officer for housing data collection are also eligible to appeal.
Before filing an appeal, all applicants are advised to review the information recorded about their households in the IWMS database during the housing data collection process.
Appeals and objections can be submitted through the official website by accessing the Appeals and Objections section. For further assistance, applicants are also advised to visit their nearest ‘Vidatha’ Resource Centre when submitting appeals and objections online.