Colombo Additional Magistrate Rajindra Jayasuriya yesterday (23) proceeded to conduct the death inquest of Janashakthi PLC Director Dinesh Schaffter in the Magistrate's chamber instead of open court for the fourth consecutive day, as per a request made by the deceased’s family members.

The death inquest was taken up last morning, and the Additional Magistrate ordered that it be conducted in the Magistrate's chamber at the request of Schaffter's family.

Schaffter's brother, Prakash Schaffter, gave evidence before the Additional Magistrate. The proceedings of the death inquest were not open for the media, and went on for about an hour from 12 noon. 

Additional Magistrate Jayasuriya ordered that the death inquest be taken up again on 8 February.

Earlier, the Additional Magistrate proceeded to conduct the death inquest of Schaffter in the Magistrate's chamber on three previous occasions as per the requests made by the deceased's family members on 4 January, 10 January, and 13 January. On those occasions, Schaffter's wife Tania Schaffter and brother Ramesh Schaffter, and Patrick Chris Perera, the latter who is a Director of a company headed by Schaffter, testified.

Schaffter died at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) in Colombo on 15 December 2022 after being found tied to the driver's seat in his vehicle with a wire around his neck and his hands tied. He had left home that afternoon to attend a meeting and had not returned home. His wife had located Schaffter near the Borella Cemetery via GPS tracking, after which he was admitted to the NHSL.