The body of the late businessman Dinesh Shafter was handed over to the family from the Karapitiya hospital today after  the Colombo Additional Magistrate courts ordered to release the body.

Earlier the body was exhumed from the Borella  Cemetery six months back to ascertain the cause of the death  and  the courts ordered a second post mortem inquiry by a board of judicial medical specialists.

The body was placed at the Karapitiya hospital for a period of six months under 24 hour police protection. According to the report of a board of judicial medical specialists the verdict was delivered confirming that the death was a homicide.

The family of Dinesh Shafter on Friday issued a statement. The full statement follows;

On the 1st of November 2023, almost 11 months after his death, Honourable Additional Magistrate, Rajindra Jayasuriya delivered a verdict of homicide at the inquest of Dinesh Schaffter. We, Dinesh’s family, are relieved that the long and painful wait is over. That finally justice has been upheld at the inquest.

For the past several months, we have struggled to avert the injustice of a false narrative of suicide. For the past half a year Dinesh’s body has been exhumed, and denied a place of rest: and we have mourned his passing without a grave. Now we are finally able to have Dinesh’s murder acknowledged as a murder.

Now we can finally lay our beloved Dinesh to rest, and begin to mourn. We are grateful to those who have worked meticulously to establish the truth about his death. We also understand that establishing a cause of death is just the beginning.

Saying that Dinesh was murdered merely averts a further injustice, it is not justice done. It is our fervent hope that the legal system will continue to uphold justice for Dinesh.

Dinesh shouldered so many of our burdens, and he always reached out to the marginalised, the oppressed and the overlooked. He fought injustice wherever he saw it. That is how we would like him to be remembered–for the kindness of his life, not the cruelty of his death.

We kindly request privacy from the public as we lay Dinesh to rest one more time as we mourn again the passing of a beloved father, husband, son, brother, and good friend.