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| Wednesday, 20 October 2004 |
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Three ballot boxes stolen from Pathadumbara polling center - Deputy Elections Commissioner by Sandasen Marasinghe Deputy Elections Commissioner P. M. Siriwardana said, yesterday, that he was informed that three ballot boxes were stolen from the polling centre at the Jambu Aswar Muslim College in Pathadumbara electorate at the General Election held in 2001. He made this observation before the Trial-at-Bar hearing the Udatalawinna Massacre Case when he was examined by Deputy Solicitor General Palitha Fernando. The Trial-at-Bar comprises High Court Judges Eric Basnayake (President), Deepali Wijesundara and Sunil Rajapakse. The Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Fraud Investigation Bureau of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Police Inspector (IP) Priyasen Ampawala denied a suggestion by Defence Counsel Anil Silva that the recovery of spent bullet cases near the edge of Kulasekara's house in the Udatalawinna massacre scene was false. He also denied the suggestion that the discovery of 17 spent bullet cases under the bed of IP Pallalavila was a narration by IP Linton Ratnayake and witness. Deputy Elections Commissioner P. M. Siriwardana giving evidence before the Trial-at-Bar examined by Deputy Solicitor General Palitha Fernando said that he was informed of the robbery of three ballot boxes from the polling centre at Jambu Aswar Muslim College in Pathadumbara electorate at the General Election in 2001. He said that each box was worth Rs. 5,400 and the two boxes serving the male voter queue which were robbed contained 914 ballot papers worth Rs. 1,700. The ballot box robbed at the female polling queue contained 734 ballot papers worth Rs. 1,365. When Judge Basnayake questioned Siriwardana he said that only the printing cost of the ballot papers were estimated. Cross examined by Defence Counsel Sudath Karavita witness said that he did not have the documents the Returning Officer provided with him and accepted that former Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte obtained 107,000 preferential votes at the General Election in 2001 while he obtained 157,000 preferential votes in 2000. |
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