Relatives identify 11 inmates killed during Mahara Prison unrest

By Asiri Fernando

The remains of all 11 inmates killed during the Mahara Prison unrest on 29 November have been identified by their relatives yesterday, the Police said.

According to Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana, following the identification of the deceased persons, the police have established that they were arrested on drug-related charges.

Earlier this week, the Wattala Magistrates Court ordered a five-member expert panel to conduct the post-mortem investigation on the 11 deceased inmates. Further, the Court ordered that a decision on cremation of some of the deceased inmates due to COVID-19 will only be made after the submission of the post-mortem report by the expert panel to the Court.

A 25-member team from the Criminal Investigation Department are continuing their investigation into the incident and the resulting deaths, DIG Rohana said.