Accused acquitted from charges

By T. Farook Thajudeen   

The nine persons who were accused and were indicted for unlawful assembly and murder, committing grievous injuries to seven victims were acquitted from all charges by Colombo High Court yesterday. 

The Colombo Crimes Division had taken the nine suspects into their custody for the murder of four people while causing grievous injuries to some others in the shooting in Summitpura, Mattakkuliya on October 26, 2016. After a lengthy trial before the Colombo High Court, the Judge acquitted the accused T. A. Prasad Ruwan, H. Muditha Chamila Kumara, Akbar Ali Mohamed Aaris, T.A. Randu, W.D. Saminda Costa, R. Nagarajah, K.T. Maduranga Perera, G. Niranjan and K.D.Chaturanga Perera for homicide, killing of four victims and causing grievous injures to three others on the night of October 23, 2016 at Summit Pura Mattakkuliya. 

Preliminary investigations revealed that the shooting was the result of a long-standing feud between the two underworld gangs. The conflict dated back to July 2014 when the father of the alleged underworld gangster was hacked to death by an unidentified group.  

The mother of Nuwan Sanjeewa alias Chuti Ukkun was also murdered as a result of this grudge. Meanwhile, Chuti Ukkun, who had been in remand custody was released about a month before the killing took place.