May 20, Colombo: The Court of Appeal yesterday (19) directed the Superintendent of Welikada Prison to submit a report to the court on the 25th of this month on the health condition of former Director of the CID Shani Abeysekara, who has been remanded on suspicion of fabricating evidence in a case against former DIG Vass Gunawardena and other suspects.

The Appeal Court issued the order when the revision petitions filed by Shani Abeysekara and Sugath Mendis seeking their release on bail were taken up before a two-judge bench comprising justices Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne and S. Kumaran Ratnam.

Additional Solicitor General Rohantha Abeysuriya, who appeared for the Attorney General, has asked for time to file objections against the petitions. He also asked the court to give time to study the petitions.

Attorneys at law Chaminda Athukorala and Viran Koraya, who appeared for the petitioners, have objected to the prosecution’s request.

Attorney-at-Law Viran Koraya has requested that his client Shani Abeysekara be released on bail as he is scheduled to undergo heart surgery, which cannot be done in prison.

The lawyer also pointed out that Abeysekara is facing a serious health threat due to the current spread of the coronavirus epidemic.

After considering the facts, the court decided to call for a report on the health condition of the petitioner and directed that the objections related to the petition be filed on or before the 27th of this month.

Since Justice Kumaran Ratnam has refused to attend the hearing of the petition due to personal reasons, the court also fixed June 4 for the hearing of the petition before a bench of Justices Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne and R. Gurusinghe.

Gampaha Chief Magistrate Manjula Karunaratne Wednesday further remanded Shani Abeysekara and two other suspects until 02 June.