By Norman Palihawadane

The Colombo Crime Division yesterday took into custody a lay custodian of the Kataragama Devale, known as ‘Chooti Kapuwa,’ over a missing gold tray made out of 38 gold sovereigns donated by a devotee to the highly venerated religious site of both Buddhists and Hindus alike.

A senior officer told The Island that ‘Chooti Kapuwa’ had been arrested when the latter arrived at the police station to make a statement yesterday morning.

The officer said that they still had no information of the whereabouts of the main suspect, the Chief Custodian known as Somipala T. Ratnayake.

The CCD sent a special team to Kataragama on Dec 11 to arrest both custodians but returned empty-handed as they had fled from the Devale.

The gold tray had been offered to the devale by Abeysinghage Nisansala wife of drug kingpin Maddumage Lasantha Chandana Perera alias Angoda Lokka suspected to have died in India. The offering was made on July 03, 2019, to the Devale.

As per the investigations, the Chief Custodian had accepted the offering and kept it in his room.