Colombo Land Registrar Ruwini Nalika in court for giving deed copies to outsiders

Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga Bodaragama ordered the release on conditional bail of the Colombo Land Registrar, who was accused of aiding and abetting organized crime gangs by providing confidential documents from the Colombo Land Registrar's Office to external individuals. The person released on bail is K., a 51-year-old resident of Rukmale, Pannipitiya.

K. Ruwini Nalika, the suspect.

The Chief Magistrate, who ordered the suspect's release on two personal bails of Rs. 1 million each, also issued an order prohibiting her from traveling abroad. In addition, to prevent any obstruction to the ongoing investigations, the court also took steps to completely ban the suspect registrar from entering the premises of the Colombo Land Registrar's Office until further notice.

The suspect was arrested by Unit 2 of the Financial Crimes Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department and produced before the court. There, officials from the Criminal Investigation Department stated before the court that while she was serving as the Colombo Land Registrar, she had illegally provided documents related to the volumes of registers and the second copies of deeds, which were securely kept in that office, to external parties.

Serious charges have been leveled against her for aiding and abetting organized crime, conspiracy, and assisting in the transfer of properties to other parties by creating forged documents of the true landowners. The Magistrate issued this bail order after extensively considering the bail applications and arguments presented by the panel of lawyers representing the suspect in court.