Court told facial recognition could not unlock Chandrasena’s iPhone

By Bhagya Silva

The magisterial inquiry into the suspicious death of former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena was held today before Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena. 

The first witness, Priyangi Anushka Wijenayake and the third witness, Aravinda de Silva, testified before court today in connection with the inquiry.

During the proceedings, the Kollupitiya Police informed court that investigations into the death had been handed over to the Colombo Crime Division.

The Colombo Crime Division also produced before court two volumes of post-mortem examination reports relating to the death.

The investigating officer further stated that several types of medication recovered from the scene, along with two blood samples of the deceased, would be produced before court as case productions.

At this stage, the Magistrate questioned whether the two unidentified medications wrapped in paper found at the scene had been forwarded to the Government Analyst for examination.

Investigating officers informed court that the substances would be forwarded to the Government Analyst today.

The Magistrate further inquired whether the belt allegedly used by the deceased had been sent to the Government Analyst.

In response, investigating officers stated that the belt had also been marked as a case production and would be forwarded to the Government Analyst today.

Making further submissions before court, the investigating officer stated that the deceased’s iPhone 16 Pro Max mobile phone was a highly secured device and that investigators had so far been unable to access it.

The officer stated that the device was protected by a facial recognition security system and that attempts had been made to unlock the phone using the deceased’s face after death, but those attempts had failed.

Accordingly, the investigating officer requested court to issue an order permitting the device to be forwarded to its parent company or another suitable institution in order to gain access to the phone.

There are eight more witnesses from whom statements have to be heard and they will be taken up on May 14.