A 42-year-old  father of three identified who was a key witness in a Human Right case filed against the Wadduwa Police OIC and Police constables  was found dead inside the cell of the Wadduwa police station on Sunday.

The relatives of the victim said they were suspicious about the death and  requested the Inspector General of Police to hold an inquiry.

Panadura Acting Magistrate Ramani De Saram visited the Wadduwa Police, inspected the  police cell and held the Magisterial Inquiry. She recorded the evidence of the victim’s eldest son Thushara Sampath  who said he was informed on on Sunday morning that his father Chandrasiri Dahanayaka had been arrested by the policemen of the Wadduwa Police while he was cycling along the Galle Road  at Thalpitiya South.

The police alleged he was in the possession of two ganja cigars. When the son went to the Wadduwa police  to meet his father who was in the Police cell he saw a bleeding injury on his face. He had come home and informed his mother.  When he came back to the police again he was told that his father had died and the police had taken the body to the Panadura Base Hospital.

The witness told the acting magistrate that his father was a key witness in a human right case filed against the Wadduwa Police OIC and certain police constables by a hotel owner.  The witness said he suspected that the police had assaulted his father as an act of revenge. Panadura AJMO Dr.  S Sumbamanium performed the autopsy and said he was unable to confirm the cause of the death.

He recommended that the specimen of certain parts of the body be sent to the Government Analyst for examination and report. Further inquiry was put off for April 20.

Panadura Police are conducting investigations on the direction of the Panadura SSP  H M Dharmasena.

Meanwhile the matter was brought to the notice of D I G Western Province and the Inspector General of Police by the children and relatives of the deceased who called for an impartial inquiry into the death of Chandrasiri Dahanayake. (K. S. Fernando)