It was revealed today at the Colombo Aluthkade Magistrate’s Court No. 2 that the death of Mr. Dinesh Shafter, the director of Janashakti Group, was caused by ingestion of cyanide.
His post-mortem report also stated that the injuries caused by strangulation were not fatal.
The Homicide and Organized Crime Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department presented the facts regarding the death of Mr. Dinesh Shafter, Director of Janashakti Group, today at the Magistrate’s Court No. 2, Aluthkade, Colombo, before Additional Magistrate Mrs. Rajindra Jayasuriya.
In the meantime, the investigating officers told the court that the data of Mr. Shafter’s iPhone X S type mobile phone and iPad were analyzed and many important facts were revealed.
Accordingly, they also mentioned that Mr. Shafter found several documents prepared for his wife and his wife’s parents on the relevant mobile phone and iPad.
It was revealed in the court that Mr. Dinesh Shafter’s i-pad had an article called list of data in Apple Note and in it there was a word known as KCM and ZIP TIE and a list of several other items.
The investigating officers mentioned before the court that cyanide is known by the short name KCM and ZIP TIE is a plastic tape used to tie something.
Also, there was another list called THE LIST in which the names of five people were mentioned, the investigating officers said.
It was revealed in the court that the names of Mrs. Muthukumarana, Jagath Seneviratne, Jayaratne, Anton Hemantha and Elian Gunawardena were among them.
It is stated that there were also telephone numbers and addresses of those people.
Investigating officials said that the last four of the five names in question contained a ‘sentence containing an intention to destroy’.
A PDF file containing photos of Brian Thomas was also found in the iPad.
The investigating officers mentioned before the court that Josephine Thomas and Christian Thomas were also named in it.
”MOST IMPORTANT WHO IS BEHIND B.T. It also says GET MY MONEY BACK.
Also, on December 15 last year, Dinesh Shafter had sent his location to his secretary and it was mentioned as Borella Public Cemetery.
Meanwhile, the investigating officers said they also checked Brian Thomas’ mobile phone.
Accordingly, the investigating officers presented to the court the WhatsApp messages transmitted between Dinesh Shafter and Brian Thomas from December 25, 2019 to December 15, 2022, which is the last day Dinesh Shafter was alive.
Meanwhile, on the day of Mr. Shafter’s death at 2:48:50 PM, Brian Thomas sent a WhatsApp message to Mr. Shafter stating that he had no need to meet him, and it also mentioned an attack he had made during a previous meeting.
Mr. Shafter tried to call Brian Thomas to the Borella cemetery but his attempt was not successful, the investigating officers told the moderator.
It was also revealed before the court that certain messages sent by Mr. Shafter to Brian Thomas had been deleted.
Then the postmortem report of Mr. Dinesh Shafter was read in the presence of Colombo Additional Magistrate Mrs. Rajindra Jayasuriya.
The Additional Magistrate stated that it stated that the injuries caused by his strangulation were not fatal and that his death was due to ingestion of cyanide.
