Homagama Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake yesterday ordered the Army Commander to hand over all documents belonging to Sri Lanka Army in connection with the investigations into the abduction of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda.
The Army Commander was also ordered not to destroy the documents maintained at Giritale Army camp where Ekneligoda is suspected to have been detained.
The Magistrate issued this order after considering a request by ASP Shani Abeysekera of the Criminal Investigation Department. The CID filed a further report containing eight pages with regard to the ongoing investigations.
ASP Abeysekera told court that that a proper investigation has not taken place with regard to the incident till 2015. He said with the CID taking over investigations, evidence are surfacing that Ekneligoda had been murdered.
The ASP told court that the investigators obtained a voice record with regard to the investigations from the Army as ordered by the court.
He said that the Army had sealed the voice record and handed it over to the CID investigators. ASP Abeysekera said that the CID officials did not listen to this voice record.
ASP Abeysekera informed the court that there is a serious issue with regard to the confidentiality of this voice record as it is available on several websites.
He said that details on the mobile phones of the suspects revealed that they had gone to Akkaraipattu from Giritale Army camp ASP Abeysekera told court that the investigators need personal details of the suspects and sought a court order.
Magistrate told police to expedite the investigations into Ekneligoda case and ordered to further remand the suspects. The case was fixed for March 15.
Roshan Thushara/ Daily News