Nadarajah Raviraj assassination investigation (state witness)
Current status of the Nadarajah Raviraj assassination investigation (state witness)
Former TNA MP Nadarajah Raviraj and his police security officer were shot dead in Colombo in November 2006. Sampath Manamperi, a police officer at the time, was investigated in connection with the assassination and was made a State witness in the subsequent prosecution of six other accused rather than being prosecuted himself. A High Court jury acquitted those six accused on 24 December 2016; the Attorney General indicated he was considering an appeal against the acquittal. No prosecution or conviction of Sampath himself in connection with the assassination has been located.
What’s happened
Recorded as a historical legal event because his transition from suspect to State witness is significant to his overall record, not because it represents an active case. Sri Lanka Brief's report on the 2016 verdict names the witness as 'Wijeya Wickrema Manamperige Sanjaya Preethi Viraj' - a fuller rendering of the same name used elsewhere as W.M. Sampath Preethi Viraj.
- Court
- High Court of Colombo
- Next hearing / due
- No upcoming hearing announced