The Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court has ordered that notice be issued to former minister Duminda Dissanayake to appear at a future hearing after the Attorney General told the court there is now sufficient evidence to name him as a suspect in the gold-plated T-56 assault rifle case.
The order, issued on Friday, follows guidance from the Attorney General that fresh material gathered by investigators warrants Dissanayake’s re-listing as a suspect in the long-running probe.
Dissanayake was first arrested in May 2025 in connection with a gold-plated T-56 assault rifle recovered from an apartment at the Havelock City complex in Wellawatte. Two women aged 40 and 68 were initially detained over the weapon before the investigation was transferred to the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID).
Following the TID’s inquiries the former minister was produced before court but was subsequently released after prosecutors told the bench there was insufficient evidence to proceed against him at that stage. The Attorney General has now reversed that position, informing the Mount Lavinia bench that sufficient evidence exists to pursue the case.
The case is distinct from the Colombo Crimes Division recovery of two revolvers tied to detained suspect “Wanathe Duminda” in the Sahaspura killing, which involves an underworld figure with a similar first name but no connection to the former minister.
The court will set a date for Dissanayake’s appearance as proceedings resume.
Update (August 4): indictments filed in the High Court
The Attorney General has filed indictments against Dissanayake before the Colombo High Court over the discovery of the gold-plated T-56, NewsFirst reported on Tuesday.
Indictments have also been filed against Aigul Sheragzina, a second suspect connected to the case.
The filing moves the matter out of the magistrate’s court and into the High Court for trial, closing a sequence that ran for more than a year. NewsFirst reported that Dissanayake was arrested on May 23, 2025 and remanded after being produced before the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court, then released on bail on July 29, 2025 by then Magistrate Chathurika de Silva, who cited the absence of direct and circumstantial evidence linking him to the case.
The June 19 notices ordering him back before court were issued by Mount Lavinia Magistrate Kanchana N. Silva on a request from the Criminal Investigation Department, after the Attorney General advised that sufficient evidence existed to name him a suspect. Those notices required him to appear on July 7.
Hiru News independently confirmed the filing on Wednesday, reporting that the Attorney General has indicted Dissanayake before the Colombo High Court over the recovery of the gold-plated T-56 from an apartment at the Havelock City complex, and that the other suspect in the case, Aigul Sheragzina, has been indicted alongside him. Two accused face the charges in total.
