The three accused who pleaded guilty to the charge of having conspired to explode a bomb on the South-bound train at the Dehiwala Railway Station on July 27, 1996 killing 64 people were today sentenced by the Colombo High Court.

Two of the accused were sentenced to ten years rigorous imprisonment while the third was sentenced to five years RI. When the case was taken up for trial before Colombo High Court Judge Kumudini Wickramasinghe Counsel G. Jeyakumar and Lakshman Perera appearing for the three accused informed court that the accused Robert Maxillan, Saveri Muttu Loganathan and Thirumagal alias Ramani would plead guilty to the charges of conspiring, aiding and abetting to cause the loss of life and irreparable damage to the Sri Lanka Railway by blasting a bomb.

The counsel while pleading guilty submitted that their clients had been in remand prison for more than 16 years since 1996 and requested Court to lessen their punishment.

Accused Sinnappu Suharajah and Suppiah Sudarshanan pleaded not guilty to the charges and the their trial was fixed for September 11. The accused were indicted on 1708 charges but later reduced to two charges. (TFT)