Forged land deeds fraud case
Current status of the Forged land deeds fraud case
Fraudulently preparing 26 forged/falsified land deeds and unlawfully selling approx. 3 acres 2 roods of land belonging to a complainant, by falsely claiming a named third party would transfer the land
What’s happened
One of at least 26 forged-deed cases arising from a single original complaint filed with police on 7 Jun 2011; a single lower-reliability source claims 25 additional related cases remain pending against Fernando (not independently corroborated)
- Court
- DISPUTED between sources - Daily Mirror, Newswire, and Gossip Lanka News say Chilaw High Court; NewsFirst says Puttalam High Court (the same trial judge is named across all sources, suggesting a single case reported inconsistently rather than two separate courts)
- Sentence
- Sources can be reconciled only partially: Daily Mirror and Hiru report 16 years of rigorous imprisonment imposed across the counts, with the sentences ordered to run so that they are served within 10 years; NewsFirst and Newswire headline the sentence as 10 years. Fine amounts also vary by source. Compensation of Rs. 800,000 is consistently reported in multiple accounts.
- Next hearing / due
- Next hearing not confirmed
Forged land deeds fraud case timeline
- 18 February 2026
Convicted
Warnakulasuriya Alex Nishantha Fernando was convicted in the matter concerning Fraudulently preparing 26 forged/falsified land deeds and unlawfully selling approx. 3 acres 2 roods of land belonging to a complainant, by falsely claiming a named third party would transfer the land. The reported sentence was Sources can be reconciled only partially: Daily Mirror and Hiru report 16 years of rigorous imprisonment imposed across the counts, with the sentences ordered to run so that they are served within 10 years; NewsFirst and Newswire headline the sentence as 10 years. Fine amounts also vary by source. Compensation of Rs. 800,000 is consistently reported in multiple accounts.
Court: DISPUTED between sources - Daily Mirror, Newswire, and Gossip Lanka News say Chilaw High Court; NewsFirst says Puttalam High Court (the same trial judge is named across all sources, suggesting a single case reported inconsistently rather than two separate courts)