State Minister Lohan enlarged in 2021 case

Plantations State Minister Lohan Ratwatte who was accused of entering the Anuradhapura Prison and threatening an inmate with a firearm in 2021 was released on bail yesterday. Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate and Additional District Judge Nalaka Sanjeewa Jayasuriya ordered the release of the State Minister on two personal sureties of Rs.200,000.

The Chief Magistrate, who decided to hear this case on January 4, 2024, ordered the suspect, the State Minister to appear before the Court again on that day.

The first witnesses in the case, Poobara Singhan Suriyapalan and the second witness Maniarasan Sulakshan, were also ordered to appear before the court on that day to give evidence related to the case.

During his tenure as the Prisons and Reforms State Minister on or about September 12, 2021, he had threatened an inmate, Poobara Singhan Suriyapalan, by pointing a firearm at him and threatening to kill him and committed a criminal offence by threatening them. This order was given after State Minister Lohan Ratwatte appeared in the Anuradhapura Court for this case yesterday morning.

Ratwatte’s attorney, President’s Counsel Sampath Mendis had informed Court after reading the charges against Ratwatte that he is innocent of all those charges.

The case was referred to the Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate’s Court by the Colombo Crimes Division and for the first time, State Minister Lohan Ratwatte appeared before open Court yesterday.

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