Probe into snatching of murdered engineer’s property in Chilaw

The Illegal Assets Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is conducting an investigation to confiscate property worth more than 500 million rupees acquired by the criminals who systematically killed Saman Wijesiri, who had worked as a chartered engineer in the United Nations for about 25 years and retired as a technical engineer in the Sri Lankan branch of the World Bank.

Illegal Assets Investigation Division Director SSP Laksiri Geethal said that a special police team went to Chilaw yesterday (22) to investigate the facts regarding the property and commenced investigations.

Engineer Saman Wijesiri was murdered on October 12, 2018. He was kidnapped and killed and his body was hidden in the Chilaw Lagoon. This was revealed in a special investigation conducted in 2021 by the Criminal Investigation Department’s Mass Robbery and Homicide Investigation Division. Three suspects involved in this murder were also arrested then. Although an operation was launched using divers in Chilaw Lagoon, it was not possible to find the body. But the arrested suspects revealed the manner of the murder during police questioning. Among the suspects was a businessman from Italy. The CID also stated at the time that the three suspects who were arrested on suspicion of this murder were known to Saman Wijesiri.

Saman Wijesiri had been residing in Indigodavila, Kakkapalliya, Chilaw. He was 63 years at the time of his death. Subsequent to killing him, these murder suspects had registered the property of over Rs.500 million rupees belonging to him in their names stating that Saman Wijesiri had written it to them. Even when the officers of the CID arrested these suspects, they had already used the property for their personal use.

Investigations revealed that Saman Wijesiri had been married to a Japanese woman and that he was divorced from her and that they had no children.Wijesiri was killed while he was making arrangements to transfer his property to a young man he had adopted.

The Illegal Assets Investigation Division of the CID has launched investigations to confiscate this property because the killers have illegally acquired Saman Wijesiri’s property worth more than Rs.500 million.