Police investigating Monday night’s fire at the Colombo Kachcheri have not ruled out the possibility of some hidden hand being behind it. The fire destroyed the entire second floor of the building.

The Colombo Crimes Division yesterday commenced a special investigation to ascertain whether someone set the building on fire to destroy documents, including deeds and instruments of lands, worth millions of rupees.

A senior police officer said that the Criminal Investigations Department has been investigating some complaints of forged deeds, forged tax documents and birth and death certificates and now those investigations had to be delayed for sometime.

It has been revealed in CID investigations that deeds and instruments for properties worth millions of rupees, belonging to Lankan expatriates living in Western countries, had been forged and some of those lands sold in recent times, the senior police officer said.

He said that the fire had erupted around 7.30 p.m. and spread quickly engulfing an unusually large area giving rise to suspicion that it was an act of arson.

Areas which held departments of planning, accounts and administration have been gutted, police said, adding that the fire was still smouldering in some areas.

Deputy Government Analyst A. Weliange, who visited the scene, said that a team of analysts would visit the site today.

Colombo GA Kamal Wimalasiri said he could not comment until the Government Analyst’s reports were received. He said that copies of destroyed documents were kept elsewhere.

Work in the departments issuing licences, Samurdhi, statistics and census, and youth services would resume duties today at usual times, he said,

Data pertaining to birth, pensions, and deaths had been decentralized to Divisional Secretariats the fire would not affect those who wanted duplicate certificates, he said.

Minister of Public Administration W. D. J. Seneviratne said that action had been taken to shift the offices of the Colombo Divisional Secretariat to another place. A special meeting in this connection would be held this evening, he said adding that the damage caused by the fire had not been estimated yet.

Source: Island (Sri Lanka)