Some pages in the originals of the letters that led to the filing of the case against former IGP Pujith Jayasundara for failing to prevent the Easter Sunday terror attacks were found missing.
This was revealed in the Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar when the case was taken up before the Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar yesterday before the Bench comprising Colombo High Court Judges Namal Balalle, Adithya Patabendige and Mohamed Irshadeen. Chief Inspector N. Senaratne attached to the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) testified before Court.
Witness Senaratne produced some missing documents of the original letters. According to those documents, former IGP Pujith Jayasundara had put his signature and directed relevant authorities to take action even in the letter sent by former State Intelligence Service Director Nilantha Jayawardena.
Following that, member of the Judge panel, High Court Judge Mohamed Irshadeen inquired from the witness whether the originals of these letters had been previously submitted to the Presidential Commission (PCoI).
Witness Senaratne said that he does not remember exactly, but as far as he can remember, no one ever asked for the originals of these letters. The case will be taken up again for further trial today.
SDSG Dileepa Pieris appeared on behalf of the Attorney General and Attorney Roshan Dehiwela appeared for the defence.
The Attorney General filed indictment comprising 855 charges in the Colombo High Court against former IGP Pujith Jayasundara on the basis of accountability of murder and attempted murder under sections 296 and 300 of the Penal Code in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks that took place on April 21, 2019 due to ignoring the sensitive intelligence provided by State Intelligence Service Director Nilantha Jayawardena that Zahran Hashim and his group had organized and prepared to carry out suicide bombings targeting religious places and hotels between April 07, 2019 and April 21, 2019 and completely failing to act on the intelligence.
The Attorney General had indicted him on charges of failing to prevent Easter Sunday attacks despite receiving enough information to prevent attack and alleging that 275 people had died and nearly 500 had been injured as a result of failing to prevent the attacks on charges of murder and attempted murder under sections 296 and 300 of the Penal Code.