Kurunegala Mayor, three others get 3 years RI

Charged for demolishing King Buwanekabahu’s Palace

By Ranjith Padmasiri and Pushpakumara Jayaratna  

Kurunegala former Mayor Thushara Sanjeewa Vitharana and  four others who stood indicted with demolishing King Buwanekabahu’s Palace and pleaded guilty and were sentenced to three-year rigorous  imprisonment by Kurunegala High Court Judge Lal Bandara Ranasinhge  yesterday.  

Former Municipal Commissioner Pradeep Tilakaratne, former  Municipal Engineer, Chaminda Bandara Adikari, Works Supervisor  Ilalludeen Zulfikar, and Backhoe Operator S.P.Laxman Priyantha were the  other accused.   

At the commencement of the trial, the defence moved to amend  the indictment sheet and Deputy Solicitor General Madhawa Thannakoon  representing the Attorny General effected it.     The accused stood indicted under five counts and they  pleaded guilty of three counts each and they were sentenced to three  year rigorous imprisonment under each count and in addition the first  accused was fined Rs.25,000 and other Rs,50,000 each.    They were ordered to pay Rs. 13.6 million as compensation  for the building and sentenced to a further 6-year imprisonment in default  of the compensation payment. At the commencement of the trial, the  accused deposited the compensation payment in about two hours.   

State Counsel submitted that the building destroyed by the  accused was of archaeological importance and the offence committed by  them was a serious one.  

The High Court Judge held that the incident and drawn the  attention of the entire country and that the accused were entitled to  maximum punishment. He pointed out that the former Mayor as the first  citizen of the city had acted in a very irresponsible manner.