The son of a powerful minister and the minister’s spouse has handed over an amount of 94 million rupees to the moneylender businessman who was arrested in connection with the robbery of the historic Sandagala (a sort of moonstone) in the Pallekele Udamaluwa Archaeological Reserve.
It is also reported that the businessman who lends this money and the minister’s family have developed a very close affinity, and the minister’s wife has given him 80 million rupees and the minister’s son has given him 14 million rupees with the view of earning interest.
Currently, three people have been arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department in connection with the Sandagala theft and have been remanded until the 18th after being presented to the court.
This suspected businessman says that the boom machine used to remove the priceless Sandagala was hired from a coordination secretary of the minister.
However, it has been revealed that the minister’s son, who is behind the Sandagala robbery, and the only witness who can directly talk about this robbery, the coordinating secretary who owns the boom truck, have not yet been arrested by the police.
In this robbery, the Defender jeep that comes providing protection to the truck that is brought for the robbery belongs to this coordination secretary. In the preliminary investigation by the investigators of the Criminal Investigation Department, they speculated that the artifact was recovered and installed at the house of the Coordinating Secretary in Aruppala.
After analyzing evidence, including telephone network investigations and CCTV footage, the investigators have found that the Sandagala that had been at the house of this coordination secretary for almost two days has been removed by the minister’s son and taken to a place in the Colombo area.
According to reports, this coordinating secretary of the minister is doing the necessary political spadework to confirm the appointment of the Pallekele Police Officer-in-Charge.
It is reported that the Criminal Investigation Department has not yet been able to arrest the Coordinating Secretary, who was imperative to keep the investigation on track, because he is under the protection of the Minister.
