Man accused of attempted bomb attack in bus sentenced to life in prison

The Colombo High Court today (29 March) sentenced an accused found guilty over an attempt to detonate a bomb inside a passenger bus at the Horton Place Roundabout in Colombo, on 01 September 2008, to rigorous life imprisonment.

The accused was identified as 67-year-old Nagalingam Madanasekaran.

Meanwhile, Colombo High Court Judge Navaratne Marasinghe also issued a warrant for the arrest of Dharmalingam Muhundan, who was found guilty of the same charges.

Despite having been found guilty of the same charge of attempted murder, Muhundan has been evading the court.

Thus, when the case was taken up in court today, an open warrant for his arrest was issued.

Judge Marasinghe also ordered that the Katunayake, Mattala and Palali airports be informed of the arrest warrant against Muhundan, while the Director General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was further ordered to execute the warrant through Interpol as well.

Despite requests made by the defence counsel that the court take into consideration the facts that his client, a father of two, has been imprisoned for 15 years, the Judge emphasised that the charges the accused has been found guilty of are of a grave nature, and could have caused serious damage.

In September 2008, the duo left an explosive device wrapped in a parcel under the seat of a bus, which was carrying over 50 passengers at the time, set to donate at around 01:30 p.m. near St. Bridget’s Convent, endangering the lives of several persons, including school children.

Upon a suspicion, however, the conductor of the bus, who noticed the parcel, had evacuated the passengers off the bus, and had informed nearby police officers.

The bus was then moved to an unpopulated location, and the parcel containing the bomb was recovered upon inspection.