Security around Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena has been strengthened after he received a letter containing an alleged death threat, NewsFirst reported on Wednesday evening.
An investigation has been launched on the instructions of the Inspector General of Police. Police said the Criminal Investigation Department has recorded a statement from the magistrate in connection with the matter.
A complaint about the threatening letter has also been lodged with the Judicial Service Commission, the constitutional body responsible for the appointment, transfer and discipline of judicial officers below the appellate courts.
NewsFirst reports that the letter was received on August 11 — some seven weeks before the investigation and the additional protection were made public. The account does not explain the interval, say what the letter contained, or indicate whether anyone has been identified.
The court in question
Amarasena presides over one of the busiest courts in the country for high-profile prosecutions. Hours before the threat was reported, he granted bail to SLPP parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa in the Criminal Investigation Department’s money laundering case arising from SriLankan Airlines’ Airbus procurement, and had twice previously refused him bail in the same file.
The Fort Magistrate’s Court is also hearing the CID case against former president Ranil Wickremesinghe and former presidential secretary Saman Ekanayake over a 2023 official trip to the United Kingdom, which was called again on Wednesday.
Nothing in the NewsFirst report links the threat to any particular case, and no police statement published so far names a motive or a suspect.
Update, 1 October: four officers assigned, and a case-linked motive
Hiru News reported on Thursday that four police officers — a personal security officer and three other personnel — have been deployed to protect the magistrate, putting a figure on the security upgrade for the first time.
Its account also fills in two things the earlier report left open:
- A senior police officer told Hiru the threatening letter concerned a case being heard at the Fort Magistrate’s Court. That is the first indication of a motive, although the officer did not say which case.
- The magistrate notified the Inspector General of Police in writing, and the IGP then assigned the matter to the CID.
Hiru reports the investigation is being run by the CID’s Homicide Investigations Division, and that officers visited the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on 29 September to record the magistrate’s statement — the day before the matter became public.
What is not settled
The August 11 date for the letter’s receipt still rests on the NewsFirst account alone; Hiru does not date it, and neither report explains the interval between receipt and investigation. No suspect has been named, and neither outlet identifies the case the letter is said to concern.
