Suspect surrenders over disappearance of ‘golden tray’ at Kataragama Devalaya
December 19, 2023 09:51 am
One of the two suspects, who are believed to be complicit in the disappearance of a ‘golden tray’ offered to the Ruhunu Kataragama Devalaya, has surrendered to the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD).
The chief custodian and the custodian who was in charge of the storage room of the Kataragama Devalaya remained unaccounted for over the past few days.
After submissions were presented to Tissamaharama Court regarding the incident, the Attorney General had directed the CCD to arrest the two custodians.
However, when the CCD officers visited the houses of the two custodians, the family members told them that the duo had travelled to Colombo to seek medical treatment.
In 2019, the wife of the notorious fugitive gangster ‘Angoda Lokka’, who was found dead in Coimbatore, India in 2020, had offered the 38-pound golden tray to the Kataragama Devalaya.
Investigations revealed that the golden tray had subsequently been placed inside the room of the chief custodian, Somipala Ratnayake.
After the Basnayake Nilame of Kataragama Devalaya learned the disappearance of the item, a formal complaint was lodged in 2021. The investigations were subsequently handed over to the CCD on the directives of the Acting IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon. The CCD officers later sought the advice of the Attorney General in this regard.
According to investigation officers, it was the custodian who was in charge of the storage room who surrendered to the police.
