8 February 2020 03:03 am
The Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar issued summons on the former navy commander Wasantha Karannagoda to be served by the IGP and the Navy Commander.
The summons directs Mr. Karannagoda to appear in Court on February 24 in the case where 14 Navy Officers are accused of abduction, torture, extortion and conspiracy to murder eleven people in 2008 and 2009.
Mr. Karannagoda was not present in court since notice had not been served on him.
Deputy Solicitor General Sarath Jayamanna PC appearing with Janaka Bandara for the prosecution said the police had visited the two residences of Mr. Karannagoda in Nawala and Kirillapone to serve the summons but Mr. Karannagoda was at neither of the addresses.
This led to the court re-issuing the summons to be served via the IGP and the current Navy Commander and postponed the case for February 19.
The Trial-at-Bar Bench comprising High Court Judges Champa Janaki Rajaratne, Amal Ranaraja and Navaratne Marasinghe to hear the trial in which the accused are Navy officers D.K.P. Dasanayake, Sampath Munasinghe, Sumith Ranasinghe, Dilanka Senaratne, Nalin Prasanna Wickremasuriya, Anton Fernando, Rajapaksha Pathirannehelage Kitsiri, Aruna Thushara Mendis, Kathriarachchilage Gamini alias Ampara Gamini, Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi alias Navy Sampath, Upul Chaminda alias Annachchi, Nandapriya Hettihendi and Sampath Janaka Kumara alias Podi Kumara and former Navy Commander Wasantha Karranagoda.
They were charged for committing a punishable offence under Section 102, 113A, 356, 338, 333, 198, 372, 32 and 296 of the Penal Code for conspiring to abduct, detain to murder S.A. Leon Stanly, Roshan Leon Stanly, John Reed, Thiyagaraja Jhegan, Rajiv Naganadan, Ramalingam Thilakeshwaran, Pradeep Vishvanadan, Mohammed Saajith, Mohammed Dilan, Kasthuri Arachchilage Anthony and Mohammed Anwar Mubarak. (T. Farook Thajudeen)