Former OIC acquitted of forgery charges after 19 years

• The former OIC was indicted in High Court for alleged forgery of documents

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda  

The Colombo High Court yesterday acquitted and discharged the former OIC of Sri Lanka Police Reserve Headquarters Vijith Weerasinghe from all the charges relating to a forgery incident that took place in 2004.  

The former OIC was indicted in High Court for allegedly making forged documents to reinstate reserve Police Constable Marikkar Kabeer who was sent on vacation from the post as he had secured employment abroad.  

The Police Constable Kabeer giving evidence stated that he had appealed to the Inspector General of Police and Commandant of Sri Lanka Police Reserve Headquarters that he be reinstated soon after he returned back to Sri Lanka after his foreign employment and he has had no contact whatsoever with the accused. The witness further said that he had never seen the accused before he came to court. The Examiner of questioned documents of Government Analyst Jayasundara giving evidence stated that he was unable to express any opinion with regard to the signatures of the questioned documents as the investigating officers did not seek the signature of the accused to be compared with the signatures of the questioned documents.  

Having considered the evidence led by the prosecution, the High court judge Amal Ranaraja decided to acquit and discharge the accused without calling defence evidence as there is no prima facie case against the accused. Senior Counsel Darshana Kuruppu with Counsel Sudarsha De Silva appeared for the Accused.