Death of Dinesh Shafter: The magistrate appoints a five-member panel of medical experts to conduct an autopsy.

Colombo Additional Magistrate Rajindra Jayasuriya today named a five-member panel of medical experts to perform a fresh post-mortem inquiry into the death of businessman Dinesh Shafter, in order to ascertain whether the death was a murder or suicide. The five-member panel of medical experts included Professor Asela Mendis (Chairman), Professor B. C. R. Perera, Professor D. H. S. Fernando, and two JMOs, Dr. Sivasubramanium and Dr. B. R. Ruwanpura. The Additional Magistrate directed the court registrar to hand over the previous post-mortem report, together with other relevant documents and samples, to the panel of doctors for their perusal and to come to a conclusion over the cause of the death of the businessman.   The aggrieved party, late businessman Dinesh Schaffter, had earlier informed the court that they had noticed several contradictions and inconsistencies in the postmortem report compiled by the Colombo Judicial Medical Officer. President's Counsel Anuja Premaratne, appearing for the aggrieved party, informed the court that the initial postmortem report had suggested that Schaffter's death was due to strangulation, but the final postmortem report submitted to the court has concluded that Schaffter's death was due to cyanide poisoning, contradictory to the initial report.