Foul play ruled out in death of businessman Lalith Kotalawala 

Lalith Kotalawala 

The post-mortem examination into the death of renowned businessman Lalith Kotalawala (85) has revealed the businessman passed away due to a worsened pneumonia condition as confirmed by the Police yesterday. 

The examination was carried out after family members of the late businessman sought an order from the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court on Sunday to conduct a post-mortem examination into his death citing that his death occurred under suspicious circumstances.The family members, represented by their legal counsel, notified the court that the deceased Kotelawala had been unlawfully detained by a specific group of individuals for the past five years, denying access to any of his family members.

Taking into consideration the facts, Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis had ordered the Colombo Judicial Medical Officer to conduct a post-mortem examination. 

The police said accordingly this information was revealed during the post-mortem examination conducted on Monday at the Colombo Forensic Medical Officer’s office, with the participation of three forensic medical officers, including the expert forensic medical officer W.R.A.S Rajapaksa.

The body was ordered to be released to the family members following the post-mortem examination.

Kotalawala was the Founding Chairman of Seylan Bank and the Former Chairman of Ceylinco Consolidated.