Remanded in extortion case

by Z. M. Razik in Kandy

A man, who is alleged to have posed as an Inspector of Police attached to CID and extorted Rs. 250,000 from a Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) and his friend, who is alleged to have aided and abetted the young man in the extortion were re-remanded till December 19 by Magistrate Kandy, Harsha Setunge.

When the case was called on Wednesday the suspects T. A. Prasanna Kumara and G. Dharshana Weerasinghe both from Mailapitiya were produced in court by remand authorities.

Nanda Senanayake and Senarath B. Galkaduwa, counsel for the second suspect, told court that the second suspect is known to the complainant. They said that the second suspect is not involved in the alleged extortion and moved that he be released on bail.

Sub Inspector B. M. Thilakeratne of the Central Range Special Investigation Unit submitted a further report to court and said that first suspect had collected Rs. 2 lakhs from the MLT on an earlier date and he was arrested while collecting the balance Rs. 50,000 from the MLT at a private channelling centre in Kandy.

He said that the second suspect had assisted the first suspect in extorting the money and at the time of the arrest the first suspect was in possession of a forged CID Identity card. He objected to bail.