-By A Special Correspondent
(Lanka-e-News -21.June.2025, 11.20 PM) In the shady crevices of Sri Lanka’s political underworld, where business tycoons, rogue politicians and complicit professionals intertwine, there emerges a sordid tale of scandal, deceit and a judicial sleight of hand that allowed one of the country’s most notorious murder suspects to escape prison – not through innocence, but via influence, manipulation and a suspiciously accommodating neurosurgeon.
That man is R. Duminda Silva: ex-parliamentarian, drug kingpin by reputation, and close associate of the now-defeated Rajapaksa dynasty. His enabler? Dr. Maheshi Wijeratne, a neurosurgeon whose professional loyalty seems to have been compromised not by medical evidence, but by her alleged romantic ties to Access Group mogul Sumal Perera, himself accused of being a political fixer par excellence for the Rajapaksas.
The incident that shocked the nation occurred on October 8, 2011. On that fateful day, Sri Lanka held local elections. But in Colombo’s urban jungle, the day ended not with a democratic flourish, but with bullets on the streets. Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, a former MP and presidential advisor, was gunned down in broad daylight. Among the prime accused was Duminda Silva – a then-rising star within the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party, close to Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabaya, the de facto power behind the throne.
Instead of heading to a police station or remand prison like any common citizen accused of murder, Silva was rushed to the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital, claiming he too had been shot – a diversion that would eventually become the cornerstone of his legal defence.
At the heart of the unfolding saga was Dr. Maheshi Wijeratne, the appointed consultant neurosurgeon who – against prevailing forensic logic – declared that Silva had suffered "penetrative brain trauma" from a bullet wound. The diagnosis was strange from the beginning. No skull fractures. No entry wound consistent with high-velocity trauma. No post-operative scarring. But her conclusion? A life-threatening injury. A miracle recovery.
Her report would become the linchpin in Duminda Silva’s defence. Without it, he was just another politician with blood on his hands. With it, he became a “victim,” too ill to remember the incident, much less to stand trial.
Dr. Wijeratne is no stranger to Sri Lanka’s elite circles. The daughter of the late UNP Minister Mahendra Wijeratne, she was married to Nigel Coomaraswamy, an executive at Access Group. That marriage, however, became collateral damage in a rumoured affair between Dr. Wijeratne and her husband’s employer – Sumal Perera, founder and chairman of Access.
Multiple family acquaintances confirmed that the affair was no secret. Perera reportedly visited the Coomaraswamy home on Barnes Place in broad daylight. His involvement in Dr. Wijeratne’s life reportedly pushed Nigel into a spiral of depression and alcohol abuse, which culminated in his untimely death in July 2023. Even during the funeral, neighbours allege, Perera’s presence at the house was so dominant that “he acted more like the grieving spouse than the actual widow.”
What followed Nigel's death was not remorse, but reward.
The medical community has been privately aghast at the fictitious nature of Dr. Wijeratne’s assessments. Multiple senior neurologists, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the reports made “no physiological sense.” According to one consultant:
“If a bullet had indeed travelled through the cranium as she claimed, the patient would be dead. Not dancing at cocktail parties.”
Yet, in her official capacity, Dr. Wijeratne authored not one, but multiple medical reports between 2011 and 2014 insisting Silva was in critical condition. She warned against court appearances, citing “neurological instability,” and prescribed “long-term residential care in a calm, non-stressful environment.”
This became the legal foundation for Silva’s absenteeism from court, even as he was photographed attending birthday bashes and sipping champagne at Soma Edirisinghe’s private gala at Swarnavahini.
In mocking tribute to the outrageous nature of Silva’s legal escape, medical students at the University of Colombo coined the term:
RDSS – R. Duminda Silva Syndrome
Or colloquially, "Hora Leda" (Fake Illness).
The pseudo-syndrome is said to involve:
Selective memory loss of traumatic events
Full recovery from severe brain trauma without scarring
Inability to attend court, but ability to dance vigorously
Memory retention for social functions, but not for murder investigations
While not recognised by any medical body, RDSS has entered Sri Lanka’s political folklore as the ultimate diagnosis for the corrupt elite – an illness of convenience, written by doctors for the rich.
Sumal Perera, for his services to the Rajapaksa court – not least the manipulation of medical reports through his mistress – was allegedly compensated handsomely. But he, too, ensured that his mistress did not go unrewarded.
In 2015, Dr. Maheshi Wijeratne was gifted a Rs. 700 million hotel – the Pigeon Island Beach Resort on the East Coast. The land, previously owned by her and her brother, was bought outright by Perera and handed back to her – now in her name. Local government sources confirmed that planning permissions were fast-tracked. The hotel's grand opening was presided over by none other than President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself, standing beside Dr. Wijeratne as “Chairperson.”
The Duminda Silva case has long been held as a textbook example of Sri Lanka’s compromised legal system. Despite dozens of eyewitnesses, forensic anomalies, and the death of a respected politician, the accused never spent more than a few hours in a remand hospital bed.
His legal team, armed with Dr. Wijeratne’s reports and political backing, painted a picture of a broken man barely clinging to life. The judiciary, under the Rajapaksa regime, folded. A conviction was eventually obtained in 2016, but was mysteriously overturned in 2021 after a presidential pardon – again under Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s reign.
The result? A convicted murderer walks free. His medical miracle fully fabricated. His freedom insured by a love affair, and a hotel.
To date, the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) has not investigated Dr. Maheshi Wijeratne for gross professional misconduct. Despite mounting evidence that her reports were instrumental in derailing justice, the Council has neither opened disciplinary proceedings nor responded to public outcry. Critics allege political pressure.
Several civil society groups, including the Lawyers for Democracy, have called for a full judicial inquiry into the role played by Dr. Wijeratne and her ties to Sumal Perera and the Rajapaksas.
Duminda Silva’s story is not just about one man’s escape from justice. It is emblematic of how Sri Lanka’s legal, medical, and business establishments collude to protect the elite.
It is a country where a neurosurgeon can become a PR agent for a murderer. Where businessmen play kingmaker. And where selective amnesia isn’t a medical condition – but a political strategy.
Today, Duminda Silva remains a free man. Dr. Maheshi Wijeratne continues her medical career, though whispers in the corridors of Colombo’s hospitals remain loud. Sumal Perera, whose Access Group continues to enjoy vast infrastructure contracts, remains untouched.
And Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra – once a voice for justice – lies buried, his killers shielded by doctored scans and fabricated trauma.
As one Colombo-based lawyer remarked:
“It wasn’t the bullet that killed Bharatha. It was the system that buried him.”
-By A Special Correspondent
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by (2025-06-21 21:16:05)
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