Welikada prison riot case: High Court –at- Bar sentence Emil Ranjan to death, acquits Rangajeewa.

  Former Superintendent of the Magazine Prison Lamahewage Emil Ranjan was today sentenced to death by the Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar, in connection with the killing of eight prison inmates on November 09, 2012. However, the first accused in the case, Inspector of Police Neomal Rangajeewa of Police Narcotics Bureau, was ordered to be acquitted and released from all charges, as the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The Trial-at-Bar bench comprising three High Court judges, Gihan Kulathunga (President), Pradeep Hettiarachchi and Manjula Thilakarathna, decided to convict Emil Ranjan for murdering while ordering to acquit and release Neomal Rangajeewa from all charges. The High Court Judges read out the sentence ordering Lamahewage Emil Ranjan to be taken to the Welikada Prison and within the four walls of the prison that on a day and time appointed by the President, he be hanged, by the neck until he is dead. The Attorney General filed indictments against Inspector of Police  Rangajeewa, Superintendent of Magazine Prison Lamahewage Emil Ranjan and Indika Sampath, an officer attached to the Prisons intelligence unit, on 33 counts, including committing murder and conspiring to murder as members of an unlawful assembly. The court had decided to proceed with the trial against the third accused, Indika Sampath, in absentia since he was absconding court since the inception of the CID investigations. The eight prison inmates killed in the incident were Kankanmalage Malinda Nilendra Pelpola alias Malan, Attapattu Sangakkara Nirmala Atapattu, Mohammed Wijaya Rohana alias Gundu, Chinthamani Mohottige Thushara Chandana alias Kalu Thushara, Asarappulige Jothipala alias Ponna Kapila, Harshan Sri Manakeerthi Perera alias Manju Sri, Raigamage Susantha Perera alias Mala Susantha, Devamullage Malith Sameera Perera alias Konda Amila.