The 1st and the 2nd Petitioners are respectively the mother and sister of the deceased Thisera Sunil Hemachandra who died on 26th July 2003 (hereinafter referred to as the deceased), while allegedly in Police custody. The deceased was a Sri Lankan citizen and 32 years of age at the time of his death. The 1st Respondent was a Police constable attached to the Police Station at the time of the death of the deceased. The 2nd Respondent is the Officer in Charge of the Police Station. The 3rd Respondent is a Police constable attached to the Police Station. The Petitioner’s version of facts is as follows. On 28.06.2003 the deceased had purchased a Sanwardana Vasana lottery from a lottery seller named ‘Neil’ and won the prize money of Rs. 3,003,100.00. The Lottery Agent was one Ranasinghe Lionel. According to the Petitioners, the lottery seller Neil, had initially tried to cheat the deceased by stating that he had won only a sum of Rs.5000 and had taken the lottery from deceased promising to pay Rs.5000 the same evening.
Thus the Police version is that both Chanaka and the deceased had been lawfully arrested that night for the reasons properly stated and explained to the two suspects before the arrest. Hence the version of facts submitted by the 1st Respondent is supported by contemporaneous evidence. 15 Accordingly this Court cannot in the circumstances come to a finding that the fundamental rights of the Petitioners had been violated. The Application is dismissed. No costs.
