The Committee for Protecting the Rights of Prisoners (CPRP) condemned the trial by media of the Police questioning a murder suspect inside a Police station in the presence of the electronic media. 

Police, on Tuesday (9) arrested seven suspects including the owner of the tattoo and piercing studio in Athurugiriya (Dulan Sanjula) where the shooting incident took place on Monday (8), resulting in the deaths of Surendra Wasantha Perera alias ‘Club Wasantha’ and another person while four others were injured. During the investigations carried out so far, it has been revealed that the owner of the said studio has received an amount of Rs. 1 million from time to time.

The seven suspects have been remanded by the Kaduwela Magistrate’s Court. The suspects were ordered to be remanded until 22 July after being produced before the Court yesterday (10).  

The CPRP stated that such action not only violates the fundamental rights (Article 13[5] of the Constitution on the presumption of innocence) of Sanjula but also constitutes a violation of the recommendations of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) and the directives of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) while making the Police officers responsible for such conduct liable for disciplinary actions. The CPRP filed a complaint in this regard with the HRCSL.

The shooting occurred during the opening ceremony of the said studio near the Clock Tower in Athurugiriya. Police investigations revealed that the shooters had arrived in a white car and that they had used two Type-56 assault rifles to carry out the shooting. However, the car used by the suspects to carry out the shooting was later found abandoned in Korathota, Kaduwela. The suspects had left the car on the roadside and then fled in a van which too had been subsequently abandoned. 

Six people (including three women) were rushed to the hospital following the incident. Police later confirmed that 55-year-old businessman Perera and a 38-year-old male succumbed to their injuries upon admission to the hospital. Hospital sources reported that singer K. Sujeewa, who was seriously injured in her leg, underwent surgery at the Colombo National Hospital and is now in a stable condition. Meanwhile, the wife of ‘Club Wasantha’ who was receiving treatment at the Homagama Base Hospital has been transferred to the Colombo South Teaching Hospital, Kalubowila, for further treatment.

Several special Police teams have been deployed to investigate the shooting incident.