Gem Authority confirms antiquity of gemstones, no damage:
Two who spread falsehoods on social media arrested, bailed:
Police Media Spokesman SSP Nihal Talduwa yesterday said that scientific investigation conducted into the allegation of theft of gemstones from the pinnacle of the Swarnamali Maha Seya confirmed that no such incident has taken place. The Police Media Spokesman pointed out that two persons had spread the false news on social media that they had received information through an invisible force that gemstones from the pinnacle had been stolen. Thalduwa said the Gem and Jewellery Authority and the Criminal Investigation Department had conducted a special investigation regarding these allegations.
According to that investigation, it has been scientifically confirmed that no damage has been done to the pinnacle of the sacred Ruwanweli Maha Seya and the two persons who were involved in spreading false information on social media were arrested and they were released on bail after being produced in court.
He added that the Sacred Ruwanveli Maha Seya is highly venerated by Buddhists in the country.
He stated this at the special press conference held at the Government Information Department yesterday (13).
He said that they paid serious attention towards the recent media reports on social media that gemstones and valuables in the pinnacle had been stolen.These reports implied that the Chief Incumbent of the Ruwanweli Maha Seya was also involved in this act then.
The pinnacle of the Ruwanweli Seya was damaged by lightning in 2019, and it needed to be restored.
“As part of this process, the old pinnacle was replaced with a new one. An individual using his You Tube channel alleged that there was some kind of fraud when replacing the old Pinnacle with a new one and the fraud has exceeded of Rs.400 million,” SSP Thalduwa said.
Chief Incumbent of the Ruwanweli Maha Seya Most Ven. Dr. Pallegama Hemarathana Thera had made a complaint to the Police Headquarters in this regard and the CID summoned the two individuals who were involved in making these allegations to the CID and recorded statements from them.
Accordingly, the relevant person named Anuja Jayasinghe has been arrested on July 11 and he was produced before the Mahara Magistrate.The Criminal Investigation Department took the support of the Gems and Jewellery Authority and the Government’s Analyst’s Department in carrying out investigations.
The Gem and Jewellery Authority has confirmed the antiquity of the gemstones and no damage has been done to them.
However,the pinnacle has been damaged by lightning. Because there is a defect in the old lightning conductor, a new lightning conductor was temporarily installed instead, the weakness of the old lightning conductor was repaired and the new lightning conductor has been installed at the Runwanweli Seya premises.
He said that the casket containing the old pinnacle being secured in a bulletproof compartment in a separate place at the Ruwanweli Seya premises.
Gem and Jewellery Authority Acting Chairman and Additional Secretary of the Industries Ministry Kelum Wijenayake and DIG Ruwan Gunasekera also spoke.