The mysterious murder of well-known businessman Dinesh Schaffter sent shockwaves among the Colombo business community last week, with calls for law enforcement agencies to act quickly to bring the culprits to book.

Dinesh Schaffter had a background in finance, with substantial expertise in the sector over a span of 25 years. He also served as the Managing Director of First Capital Holdings PLC and its subsidiaries.

Asserting that investigations into homicides could not be rushed, as time was required to pursue various leads and compile a strong suit of evidence to ensure a successful prosecution, Police Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa told The Sunday Morning that although there were several persons of interest, no key suspects had yet been identified (22).

SSP Thalduwa dismissed speculation that Schaffter’s murder was linked to a group of organised criminals preying on successful business personalities, arguing that going by initial investigations, the crime was likely personal in nature.

“A murder investigation cannot be done overnight. It needs to be done carefully; there is a process to follow.  It is a time-consuming task, as we have to ensure that we collect evidence properly and build a strong case that can prove the alleged crime beyond a reasonable doubt in court. For example, to analyse phone records, we need to get a court order; while the analysis is underway we find some patterns that interest us, so we have to go back to court to seek new orders, to check records of new phone numbers which we find links to,” Thalduwa explained.

Commenting on the ongoing investigation, the Police Spokesman stated that the Homicide and Organised Crime Investigation Division (HOCID), which is led by a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), had deployed detectives and several teams to follow leads. The HOCID is under the administrative purview of the Senior DIG in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

“Up to now (22), the HOCID has interviewed 58 persons regarding the murder of Schaffter, including some of his colleagues and family members. Statements have been recorded from them; some may be re-interviewed later as the investigation progresses. Initial investigations conducted by the Borella Police also saw eight persons interviewed and statements recorded,” SSP Thalduwa said.

Cause of death

Responding to a question, SSP Thalduwa stated that according to the Judicial Medical Officer’s (JMO) inquest, Schaffter’s death had been caused due to strangulation. Thalduwa would not comment on how and in what condition the victim had been found, citing the ongoing investigations.

However, a Police source close to the investigation told The Sunday Morning that there was no indication the victim had been poisoned or drugged.

“We believe that Schaffter was found in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. He had been strangled or had survived an attempted strangulation at the time he was found by his colleague. We are looking into whether he was bound and if so how and with what. There are grounds to suspect that once he was found semi-conscious, he had vomited. He had died after being admitted to the hospital,” the Police source said.

It is understood that a worker at the Borella General Cemetery (Kanatte) where Schaffter was found had aided the businessman’s colleagues to get him out of the vehicle. The grave digger is one of the persons who had been interviewed by the HOCID.

Digital forensics

A number of smart mobile phones have been taken as evidence to be analysed in relation to the investigation.

“In this investigation, a lot may depend on digital evidence and the networking of the victim’s contacts. His communications over the last few hours of his life will give significant insight into what may have happened,” the Police source said.

It is understood that Schaffter’s family and colleagues had tracked him to the Borella Cemetery by way of a mobile phone GPS tracking app, which had been installed on the victim’s phone.

Schaffter’s car, a sedan, has also been submitted to the Government Analyst.

Complaints

According to SSP Thalduwa, Schaffter had earlier this year lodged a complaint with the CID charging that veteran sports commentator Brian Thomas had personally defrauded him to a tune of Rs. 1.4 billion. However, Thalduwa said that the CID had begun an investigation into the complaint before the murder. 

The Police Spokesman acknowledged that another party had filed a complaint against the deceased relating to financial issues, but would not divulge details of the complaint nor the complainant.

SSP Thalduwa told The Sunday Morning that although the ongoing investigation would look into both complaints, it was too early in the process to comment on their relevance to the murder, if any.

Timeline

Earlier this week, reports indicated that the CID probe had uncovered that Dinesh Schaffter had left his residence at Flower Road, Colombo at around 1.55 on the fateful afternoon and had visited a restaurant on Malalasekera Mawatha in Colombo for a meal. 

At around 2.15 in the afternoon, the victim’s wife had sent a WhatsApp message inquiring if he would be back soon. Reports also indicate that former cricket commentator Brian Thomas has revealed that he had received a WhatsApp message from Dinesh Schaffter around 2.42 in the afternoon.

At around 2.43 p.m. Thomas had received another WhatsApp message from Schaffter, where the latter had said he had deleted all messages as requested. The Police had established that Schaffter had already been at the Borella General Cemetery by 2.45 p.m.

Thomas had informed the CID that he had grown suspicious of the WhatsApp messages sent to him, as it was not characteristic of how Schaffter communicated.

According to the Police, Schaffter’s business partner Krish Perera had found him unconscious at the Borella General Cemetery at around 3.55 p.m. and he had subsequently been admitted to the Colombo National Hospital.