Dinesh Schaffter’s body to be exhumed?

• Expert panel requests Magistrate’s permission to exhume body to find the cause of his death

By Nimanthi Ranasinghe  

The five-member expert committee, comprising of specialist  doctors, appointed to prepare a report on the death of businessman,  Dinesh Schaffter, yesterday requested in writing to the Colombo  Magistrate’s Court that the body of deceased Mr. Schaffter needs to be  exhumed to find the cause of his death.  In order to determine the cause of death, the body of the  deceased should be exhumed and examined, and for that reason, the  five-member special medical board requested Colombo Additional  Magistrate Mrs. Rajindra Jayasuriya to grant permission for the same.  

 Accordingly, the court set a date to take up the case to make an order to the Criminal Investigation Department in this regard.  

On February 17, Colombo Additional Magistrate Rajindra  Jayasuriya issued an order to the Director General of Health to submit a  list of specialist doctors to the court to appoint a five-member  special medical panel to decide whether the death of Mr. Schaffter was  suicide or murder.   

Accordingly, the five-member expert committee was appointed  by the court on February 27 and headed by Senior Lecturer in the Department  of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, University of  Colombo Asela Mendis.  

The other members are Prof. D.C.R. Perera, Prof. D.N.P. Fernando, Dr. Sivasubramaniam and Dr. Ruwanpura.