Colombo Additional Magistrate G. Prahasha S. Ranasinghe ordered  the Colombo JMO to hold a post mortem examination into the foetus that was   recovered from a bedside cupboard in ward 5 of the Castle Street Hospital for Women on November 1.

The Magistrate made this order as a sequel to a request made by the Avissawella Magistrate after it was discovered that the recovered foetus was allegedly taken from a residence at Padukka after an abortion.

According to SI Thilakaratne of the Minor Offence Branch of the Padukka Police, the suspect Murugesu Susanthikala Devi, a domestic aide at a residence at Horana Road Udumulla, had regularly complained of stomach pains from the date she came to the house as a domestic aide on October 25. 

On the night of November 1 the suspect had once again had complained of a severe stomach pain with rigorous bleeding.

Police submitted that the suspect had demanded paracetamol when the householders tried to take her to the Castle Street Hospital for treatment.

However the   householders had forcibly admitted the suspect to ward five of the Castle Street Hospital on November 1. The doctor who examined the suspect had diagnosed that the bleeding was post confinement bleeding which the suspect had refuted.

Later, the Hospital authorities had recovered a fetus from the bedside cupboard and while being questioned by Police the suspect aide had admitted delivering the fetus and being involved in an illicit affair with a man while being employed at a garment factory in Bambalapitiya.

The Colombo magistrate while ordering the JMO to hold a Post Mortem inquiry on  the fetus at the morgue of the Castle Hospital, remanded the suspect till November 11 and further directed that the fetus be handed over to the Colombo Municipal Council on conclusion of the examination to be buried at the expense of the Government.

The suspect is being treated at the Castle Street Hospital under fiscal custody.