හනුමාන් දේව ප්‍රතිමාවක් ඉන්දියාවට අලෙවි කරන බව පවසා වංචා කළ අය හසුවේ

Fort Magistrate Mr. Pasan Amarasekara ordered the remand of two suspects until the 5th, who attempted to defraud millions of rupees by claiming to sell an archaeologically valuable Hanuman deity statue to India.

The two suspects remanded, Jayantha Bandara Athukorala, a resident of Kegalle, and Suduhakuruge Lionel Ranaweera, a resident of Thalawathugoda, claimed that a metallic Hanuman statue containing gems and gold, found in Jaffna during the LTTE war, was brought to the South and buried in 2016. Subsequently, they attempted to carry out this organized financial fraud by sending photos and video clips of the statue via WhatsApp technology.

Investigations were launched and these suspects were arrested based on a complaint made by Deputy Minister Sunil Watagala to the Criminal Investigation Department. According to a video clip handed over to the CID by the complainant, the first suspect orchestrated this racket by also associating the Deputy Minister's name, and he was taken into police custody while making a phone call to another person.

According to information revealed during the interrogation of the first suspect, it was reported to the court that the second suspect aided and abetted this fraudulent transaction by finding buyers. The Criminal Investigation Department informed the court that further investigations are being conducted regarding this racket, which involved the illicit use of a minister's name, and the violation of the Antiquities Ordinance.

The video clip stating that a portion of the relevant transaction should also belong to the Deputy Minister was presented as evidence, and after considering the facts presented, the Magistrate ordered the suspects to be remanded until the 5th, and for the progress of the investigations to be reported to the court on that day.