A suspect who was arrested for his alleged links with Easter Sunday attack mastermind Zahran Hashim has died from an illness while in remand custody at the Welikada Prison on Friday (Dec13), Prison officials confirmed.
The suspect identified as 19-year old, Zainul Abdeen Jaseel Mohammed was a resident of Kattankudy. He had been arrested along with his elder brother on May 30 by officers from the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) while at their residence in Kattankudy.
After initial interrogation, they had been detained for a brief period and then produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate. Zainul and his brother, along with the other suspects, have been in remand custody since. His brother had later been transferred to the Batticaloa Prison.
According to prison officials around 8.30pm on Friday, Zainul had complained of a headache and difficulty in breathing. He had immediately been taken to the prison hospital, but had passed away after midnight. A magisterial inquiry was held at the prison and a postmortem examination was conducted yesterday (Dec14) by Colombo Consultant Judicial Medical Officer, Rahul Haq. The cause of death had been identified as septicemia. The Colombo JMO’s office had summoned the Welikada Prison doctor who treated the suspect and prison officers who were guarding him. They had been instructed to immediately take precautionary medicine as the bacteria which caused the death of the detainee was extremely dangerous.
The Mohammed’s remains were handed over to his family last afternoon.
(The Sunday)