Cardinal complains to Court of Appeal about possible disaster

By Chitra Weerarathne

President’s Counsel, Sanjeewa Jayawardena yesterday explained to the Court of Appeal that his client, His Eminence Malcom Cardinal Ranjith was of the opinion that there were 6,000 imported swords and daggers circulating in the country.

Out of that number, 600 had been purchased by Mohammad Saththar, who had given them to Mohammad Insfar, allegedly connected to the Easter Sunday attack of April 21, 2019, the counsel said.

The Cardinal believed that there were 21 explosive devices illegally imported into the country. He had even written to the Head of State requesting a thorough investigation into the impending national disaster, Jayawardena said.

Among the respondents, cited in the petition are IGP C. D. Wickramaratne, Defence Secretary General (retd.) Kamal Gunaratne, the Chief of National Intelligence Maj. Gen (retd.) Ruwan Kulatunga and a few other senior security officers.

The Court of Appeal issued notice on all the respondents returnable on March 05. The petitioner was directed to issue notice within three weeks.

Sanjeewa Jayawardena, PC appeared with Rukshan Senadheera, for the Cardinal the complainant.

The Court of Appeal Bench comprised Justice Arjuna Obeysekera (President) and Justice Mayadunna Corea.

During the Easter Sunday attack on April 21, 2019, members of an Islamist organization National Thawheed Jamaat, led by Zahran Hashim, blew themselves up in a number of locations around the country killing more than 250 people and injuring about 500 others.