Dinesh Schafter’s last wish was to cremate his body after death, says the counsel for the aggrieved party.

Counsel who appeared on behalf of the aggrieved party, the family members of late businessman Dinesh Schaffter, informed the court today that the last wishes of the deceased were to cremate the body remains following his death.

President’s Counsel Anuja Premaratne, appearing for the aggrieved party, made these remarks when the magisterial inquiry into the death of businessman Dinesh Schaffter came up before Colombo Additional Magistrate Rajindra Jayasuriya.

However, the President’s Counsel said that if the court directs the body remains to be buried following the postmortem examination, the family members’ intention was to bury the remains in a land plot in the Jawatta area. He further said the aggrieved party’s request for cremation could be decided after taking into consideration the opinion expressed by the five-member expert medical panel.

He further said that his application to release the body will be supported after filing affidavits together with the last wishes of the deceased.

Counsel appearing for the interests of Chandra Schaffter, the father of the late Dinesh Schaffter, told the court that his client’s stance regarding the burial and cremation was to be communicated to the court on the next hearing date.

Meanwhile, the Court issued an order directing the expert medical panel to consider the possibility of giving permission to cremate the body if it is not required for further investigations.

Colombo Additional Magistrate Rajindra Jayasuriya observed that the five-member expert medical panel appointed to perform a fresh post-mortem examination into the death of Dinesh Schaffter is still preparing the final report.

Further magisterial inquiries are fixed for October 16.

The body of businessman Dinesh Shafter was recently exhumed before a panel of medical experts who were appointed to perform a fresh postmortem inquiry.

On February 27, the Court appointed a five-member panel of medical experts to perform a fresh postmortem inquiry into the death of businessman Dinesh Shafter in order to ascertain whether the death was a murder or suicide.

The five-member panel comprised Professor Asela Mendis (Chairman), Professor B.C.R. Perera, Professor D.H.S. Fernando, and two JMOs, Dr. Siva Subramanium and Dr. B.R. Ruwanpura. They have been tasked with performing a fresh inquiry to determine the actual cause of death for businessman Dinesh Shafter.