More details revealed on how Shanth Bandara's son robbed the Chinese.

Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasekara yesterday (22) granted permission to detain and question Anuja Dinujith Bandara, the son of former State Minister Shanta Bandara, who was arrested in connection with the robbery of over two crore rupees belonging to a Chinese national in the Kollupitiya area of Colombo, for a period of 24 hours under the custody of the Central Criminal Investigation Division.

The Magistrate issued this order considering a request made by officers of the Central Criminal Investigation Division, in accordance with the Inspector General of Police's directive to hand over further investigations into this robbery to the said division. Officers of the Fort Police confirmed before the court that after the suspect, initially arrested by the Kollupitiya Police, was produced in court, the investigations related to the incident were handed over to another division.

Four other suspects arrested in connection with this incident have already been remanded. Sergeant Bandara (74773) of the Central Criminal Investigation Bureau, who took over the investigations as per the instructions of the Inspector General of Police, stated that since new investigations have commenced, a 24-hour detention order is required to further question the suspect.

The legal counsel appearing for the suspect argued before the court that their client is a student studying at a private university and has no connection to this robbery or the complainant Chinese national. The lawyers further stated that the suspect introduced a person named Ajith, whom he knew, for the protection of the Chinese national, who was introduced through a friend named Pramil, with whom their client studied together at Royal College, Colombo, and that their client has no involvement in any incident that occurred beyond that.

Furthermore, the defense lawyers emphasized that the police have not submitted any evidence summary report to the court clarifying how the suspect was involved in this crime. Considering the facts presented by both parties, the Magistrate granted permission to detain and question the suspect for 24 hours, ordering the police to produce him before the court again today (23).