The murder of Dinesh Shafter occurred on the fifteenth. Today marks two and a half weeks after this tragedy. The authorities have not yet been able to apprehend the perpetrator of this murder. Borella Police conducted the preliminary inquiry into the murder of Dinesh Shafter. This only applies for less than 48 hours. After 48 hours, the inquiry was shifted to the Homicide and Organized Crime Division of the Criminal Investigation Department by Inspector General of Police’s directive. The murder of Dinesh Shafter rocked the business elite.
Regardless of the course of the Dinesh Shafter murder investigation, a labourer at the Borella Public Cemetery has become one of the most essential witnesses. He is M Nilam. He intervened to transport Dinesh Shafter to the Colombo National Hospital when he was struggling for his life in his vehicle.
Nilam resides in an area close to Borella Public Cemetery. Nilam has been working at Borella Public Cemetery since 2015. The nature of his work is digging graves. The cemetery is now more familiar to him than his home. He also has a good understanding of everything that happens there.
On the day that Dinesh Shafter was murdered, Nilam reported to work in the crematorium area at 8:30 a.m. Approximately 2:30 p.m. in the evening, he was at the orphan plot of the cemetery. That is, until a corpse was delivered to the grave he dug that day to be interred. The vehicle of Dinesh Shafter was discovered approximately five metres away from where he was.
On that day, as Nilam approached the freshly excavated pit, he observed a slim, tall man standing beside the car and rushing towards the crematorium at the back of the cemetery. Initially, Nilam did not recall enough to describe the individual’s attire, but he now has a vivid recollection of these details. This memory suggests that the individual was wearing slacks and a shirt. Nilam’s memory is now adequate for him to recognise the individual if he encounters him again. He even stated this to the police in a statement. Consequently, Nilam is now an essential witness. Was it Dinesh Shafter’s killer who fled the scene when Nilam approached the grave he dug away from the car? It is still a mystery.
After the mysterious person disappears from Dinesh Shafter’s car, Krish Perera is the next to appear. He is Dinesh Shafter’s business associate and friend. Krish Perera, who was dressed in a white T-shirt and black trousers, was circling the car and shouting. Saying someone’s name. Nilam, who turned his attention to that, runs there along with his friend John. That friend of Nilam is none other than a graveyard worker.
Krish Perera opens the driver’s side door of the car after Nilam and John come there. There they both see Dinesh Shafter in the driver’s seat of the car with his hands tied with cable ties. At that time, they all saw that a wire was wrapped around his body.
He has even given statements to the police about that. Nilam removes the wire that was wrapped around the body. Although Nilam made some efforts to remove the cable ties that had tied his hands, it was not an easy task, so Krish Perera and Nilam lifted Dinesh Shafter to the seat next to the driver’s seat with great difficulty.