The Colombo High Court has ruled that charges filed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) against alleged organised crime figure Nadun Chinthaka Wickramaratne alias “Harak Kata” and four other accused over an alleged conspiracy to escape from the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) cannot be maintained.
However, the Court held that there was no legal impediment to proceeding with the charges against the accused under the Penal Code.
Colombo High Court Judge Buddhika C. Ragala delivered the order after upholding preliminary objections raised by the defence.
When the case was taken up for trial, defence counsel, including Attorneys-at-Law Jaliya Samarasinghe and President’s Counsel U.R. de Silva, argued that the prosecution could not legally proceed with the PTA charges against their clients.
The defence submitted that although the indictment had been filed under Section 2(1)(a) of the PTA, the prosecution had failed to specify the particular offence allegedly committed by the accused under that provision. They argued that this omission rendered the PTA charges legally unsustainable. The defence also raised several additional preliminary objections challenging the applicability of the PTA.
Responding to the objections, the State Counsel argued that whether the alleged offences fell within the scope of the PTA could only be determined after evaluating the evidence presented during the trial. The prosecution further maintained that the validity of the indictment filed by the Attorney General could not be challenged before the High Court.
After considering submissions from both parties, Judge Ragala held that the PTA charges could not be sustained based on the material before the Court. Nevertheless, the Judge ruled that the charges filed under the Penal Code could continue.
Following the ruling, defence lawyers made bail applications on behalf of the accused. The Court fixed August 3 to deliver its order on the bail requests.
The accused in the case are Nadun Chinthaka Wickramaratne alias “Harak Kata”, former CID Police Constable Ravindu Sandeepa Gunasekara, Dinesh Tharanga, Midigama Ruwan alias Ruwan Chamara, and Sanjaya Abeysinghe. All five remain in remand custody.
