The Court of Appeal has ordered a retrial in the assassination case of former Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj, setting aside the earlier acquittal of the accused, including three Navy intelligence officers.
The judgment was delivered by a bench comprising Justices B. Sasi Mahendran and Amal Ranaraja on March 26, 2026, following an appeal filed by the Attorney General challenging the High Court verdict.
The accused had previously been indicted before the Colombo High Court on multiple charges including conspiracy to assassinate MP Raviraj, causing his death, and the killing of Police Constable Lakshman, who was travelling with him at the time of the attack. The suspects in the case included three Sri Lanka Navy intelligence officers among others.
The trial, which was conducted before a special jury in 2016, resulted in all accused being acquitted after a unanimous verdict. The Attorney General later appealed the decision, arguing that the High Court Judge failed to properly direct the jury, particularly regarding the testimony of a key accomplice witness.
The Court of Appeal found that the High Court Judge had not adequately instructed the jury on how to assess the evidence of the accomplice witness, who had been granted a conditional pardon and whose testimony formed a central part of the prosecution’s case.
The judges also raised concerns over the timing of the jury instructions, noting that the judge began charging the jury late in the evening and continued until around 11:00 p.m., with the verdict delivered shortly after midnight — circumstances described as unusual.
After reviewing the evidence, the Court of Appeal concluded that there was sufficient material to proceed with the case and ruled that the acquittal should be set aside.
Accordingly, the Court ordered that a fresh trial be conducted before the High Court.
Former TNA MP Nadarajah Raviraj was shot dead in Colombo in November 2006 along with his police bodyguard, in a killing that drew widespread local and international attention. (Newswire)