Former Sri Lankan cricketer Aravinda Silva said that the former CEO of SriLankan Airlines, Kapila Chandrasena, who died after being released on bail from remand prison, told him that there was an attempt to imprison him again, and that he was deeply upset about it.
He said this when the magisterial inquiry into the mysterious death of Kapila Chandrasena was called before Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena today (12).
Elaborating further on the condition of Kapila Chandrasena on the night of the incident, he said:
”I told him not to have any unnecessary fear about being imprisoned again. I reassured him by saying that we will resolve the issue. But when the bedroom was being prepared at night, Kapila repeated the same statement. It seemed that he was under unbearable mental stress.
Arvinda de Silva said that he had met Kapila Chandrasena several times during his imprisonment and that after he was released on bail, he took steps to bring him home through a person working in his office.
He emphasized that on the morning of the 7th, Kapila Chandrasena had called him on the phone to thank him, and since he had learned that there was another court action against him, he had called him to his house and sought advice through lawyers, and that lawyer Rienzi Arsakularatne had said that Kapila should be produced before the court the next morning. Accordingly, he stated that a lawyer was scheduled to come to accompany him the next morning.
Aravinda de Silva stated that after the lawyer returned home at 7 am the next morning, he called Kapila Chandrasena on the phone but there was no response and finally opened the room using the “master key” and found him unconscious.
“I did not go inside the room out of fear. I immediately informed the hospital and the police. The doctors examined him and confirmed that he was dead.”
Meanwhile, Aravinda de Silva’s wife, Priyanga Silva, told the court that Kapila Chandrasena was not a regular visitor to her house.
“After he was granted bail and returned home, I gave him lampreys and watermelon juice. He then went to his house and came back to our house that evening. That night, I went to sleep at around 11 pm and Kapila stayed in the eldest son’s room. The next morning, when he did not come out of the room, I went with the lawyer and opened the door using the ‘master key.’”
However, when she opened the door and looked inside, she found that he was not on the bed and that a chair had been turned towards the bathroom, and that the lawyer had told her to go out at that time.
The Colombo Crimes Division is conducting further investigations into this death, and the case has been adjourned until the 14th to hear the testimony of five more witnesses.