The Colombo High Court today ordered the acquittal and release of former DIG Vass Gunawardena and his wife from a case filed against them over an illegal land acquisition that took place in 1996 in the Maharagama area.
However, this acquittal would not be effective for Vaas Gunawardene as he was already on death row for murdering millionaire businessman Mohamed Shyam.
The Attorney General had filed indictments against the two accused, former DIG Vaas Gunawardene and his wife Shayamali Priyadarshani Perera for illegally acquiring a land spanning one and a half acres in Maharagama, using forged documents in
The High Court ordered the acquittal of the two accused from all charges after considering a preliminary objection raised by defence counsel Jaliya Samarasinghe.
The defence counsel argued that the two accused should be acquitted from the case since the prosecution has failed to institute criminal proceedings against the duo within the stipulated time frame of 20 years from the time of the offence committed.
Following legal submissions by the defence, the Attorney General moved to withdraw the indictments filed against the accused.
