Royal Park death: Probe continues

The investigation is continuing into the death of the German youth whose body was found at the Royal Park premises this week, despite permission being granted for the cremation of the body, Police said yesterday. The Magistrate’s Court ordered Dialog Telekom to forward a report on the calls and SMS’s received on Reto Carl Joseph’s phone on the day of the incident.

Colombo Additional Magistrate Ajith Anawaratne earlier ordered the release of Reto’s body to his father after the post mortem was conducted and the Court had permitted the cremation of the body following a request made by Reto’s family. Reto’s body was found on Tuesday and his death was suspected to have been caused by falling off from the 11th floor of the Royal Park apartment residencies.

The report which Dialog Telekom would be forwarding to the Police, according to the Court decision, should have details of calls from 8.00 p.m. on December 3 till 6.30 a.m. on the following day.

The order was given on a request made by Welikada Police who are conducting investigations into the death. 16-year-old Reto had left his home in Battaramulla without informing anybody though he had bid ‘good night’ to his mother as usual before going to sleep.

None of the security points at the Royal Park apartment premises have recorded Reto as having entered the premises and Police sources said this had made the investigations more complicated. Reto’s father Ronald Steurera, a lecturer at the German Training Institute said his son did not have any enemies as far as he was concerned.