The Attorney General informed the three-judge bench of the Colombo High Court today (16) that the current Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, Shani Abeysekara, has been named as a witness in the case related to the abduction and disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda.
This was when the case was taken up before the three-judge bench of the High Court comprising Namal Balalle, Mahesh Weeraman and Sujeewa Nissanka today.
At that time, President’s Counsel Upul Kumarapperuma, who appeared on behalf of the aggrieved party, made a request before the court stating that Shani Abeysekara, the Chief Investigating Officer in this case and who supervised the investigation, had not been named as a witness.
He said that he had made a request to the court on November 29, 2022, to name him as a witness, and that the then Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris, who appeared for the prosecution, had informed him that it would be considered. However, the President’s Counsel stated that Shani Abeysekara has not been named as a witness in the relevant case to date.
Deputy Solicitor General Wasantha Perera, who appeared for the prosecution, informed the court that Shani Abeysekara has already been named as the 109th witness in this case.