Court permits to detain & interrogate Rishad's wife and three others

COLOMBO (News 1st); A Sri Lankan Court has granted permission to Sri Lanka Police to detain for 48 hours and interrogate 04 suspects in connection to the death of a 16-year-old domestic aide in Colombo and the rape of another female within the same premises.

On Friday (23) Sri Lanka Police arrested the wife of Ex-Minister Rishad Bathudeen, the Ex-Minister’s father-in-law and another person over the death of a 16-year-old girl who was employed as a domestic aide at the residence of Bathiudeen.

20 statements were recorded by detectives and they collected scientific, circumstantial, scientific and technical evidence with regard to the death.

Further, detectives considered the contents of the post-mortem report and it was revealed that the suspects committed offenses under the Section 360 (C) of the Penal Code (Human Trafficking) and Section 308 (B) of the Penal Code (Cruelty to Children).

The third suspect Ponnaiah Bandaram alias Shankar is considered as the person who engaged in trafficking the victim.

In addition, the brother-in-law of Ex-Minister Rishad Bathiudeen was arrested by Sri Lanka Police for committing rape.

Police Spokesperson Senior DIG Ajith Rohana speaking to News 1st said 20 statements were recorded by Sri Lanka Police over the death of a 16-year-old girl employed at the residence of the Ex-Minister as a domestic aide.

And two of these statements were from domestic aides who served at the Ex-Minister’s residence before the arrival of the 16-year-old girl.

These two domestic aides are women aged 22 and 32, both from Dayagama and investigations revealed that a trafficker identified as Ponnaiah Bandaram alias Shankar had brought them to Colombo.

Ponnaiah Bandaram was arrested by Sri Lanka Police over the death of a 16-year-old girl employed at the residence of the Ex-Minister as a domestic aide.

The 22-year-old woman had expressed that she was raped at the official residence of the Ex-Minister in Colombo from 2015 to 2019.

The 44-year-old brother-in-law of Ex-Minister Bathiudeen was identified as the suspect and was arrested by the detectives.