THE MYSTERY SURROUNDING THE DEATH OF DINESH SCHAFFTER

At present, Sri Lanka has its own share of problems from all fronts.  In spite of the same, the mysterious death of famed businessman cum Cricket administrator aroused the curiosity of the general public in an unprecedented manner.  It happened on 15th December 2022 but no arrests have been made so far to date. So, every national paper has been carrying an article or two almost every day about his untimely death speculating a wide range of probabilities.  In a sense, the local media has become over-enthusiastic about the whole affair. Meanwhile, local media is coming up with contradictory statements even quoting SL Police so the Police have the additional task of briefing and updating the general public about the true progress of the investigation. So, what has really happened? 

Schaffter family lineage 

Chandra Schaffter is a well-known and prominent Cricketer cum Cricket Administrator of the yore.  He was educated at St Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia where he excelled in Cricket as a pace bowler. Upon leaving his alma mater, he played for all Ceylon in the 1950s representing the national squad in 3 first-class matches and 2 one-day matches in his prime youth.  During the same era, he featured in Gopalan Trophy in India with an impressive record.  In the business arena, Chandra Schaffter is considered to be a pioneer in the insurance business in Sri Lanka.  He single handedly founded Janashakthi Insurance Company in 1994.  Through his company, he showed his love for the game of Cricket and his generosity in the form of sponsorships for clubs and individual players.  It is significant to mention that he was also a robust Hockey player.  So, Chandra Schaffter had two sons: Prakash and Dinesh.  Emulating in his father’s footsteps, two sons were also involved in Cricket as players and administrators every now and then. 

Who is Dinesh Schaffter?

Dinesh Schaffter was the youngest of two sons. Two brothers were educated at St Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia. After GCE (O/L) examination, both sons were taken out of school and sent to receive further education in the UK.  Prakash had even represented Cambridge Sports Club playing in numerous matches but Dinesh’s Cricketing career was not much reported in the media.  Both sons had been appointed to the top positions of their father’s company and other business concerns.  While Prakash became the Managing Director of Janashakthi Insurance PLC, his younger sibling Dinesh was appointed to the board.  Besides, he was given the responsibility to lead ‘First Capital Finance’ as the Managing Director which is a leading primary treasury bond dealer company.  Dinesh was a star witness in the inquiry into the bond scam between 2015-2020. Dinesh Schaffter was married to Tani Schaffter who was his second wife.  He had a child from his first marriage who is domiciled in the UK.  He had two children from the second marriage as well. 

Financial stability in a quandary

After the death of Dinesh, it transpired that he was heavily in debt. He had invested in a number of ventures and most of them had gone bankrupt.  Similarly, he was said to have given Brian Thomas, a well-known sports media personality a thumping sum of Rs 144 million for which he was charged with fraud. On the other hand, Brain Thomas also has a blemished character teeming with a number of fraud cases pending against him.  Last year, he was remanded for a scam involving another businessman. Brian worked at Sri Lanka Cricket as Media Manager for a brief period. It is not known how Dinesh made an acquaintance with Brian. Brian Thomas is a Colombo-based Tamil as of Dinesh.  And Dinesh was also a Cricket administrator.  So, it can be assumed that one of these circumstances or both facts altogether would have led to a friendship.   It was also reported in the media after Dinesh’s death that he was so badly in debt that he had put his house on Flower Road for sale as well. 

On the day of the incident 

On the 15th of December 2022, Dinesh along with his family was to travel to England and they were to leave for the airport at 4.30 pm. According to the statement given by his wife, Dinesh had left the house on Flower Road at around 2.00 pm on the premise of going to meet a person for a discussion.  The name of the person he was going to meet was not disclosed.  On the way, he was reported to have fetched two snacks enough for two. He drove his car bearing number WP KU 8732 without a driver. Then, he had apparently entered the Borella Cemetery and proceeded towards the new crematorium area.  After about 45 minutes, his wife Tani Schaffter tried to contact Dinesh but was not answered even on a few attempts thereafter.  As Tani Schaffter claimed, he would always answer her call irrespective of the fact how busy he was.  Alarmed by his eerie silence on the phone, she had alerted Chris Perera, one of the directors of his company.  Thereafter, tracking on a mobile app, Chris Perera tracked down Dinesh’s car in the far corner of the cemetery. Upon checking, he saw a choked Dinesh in the driving seat with his hands tied to the back of the seat strangled with a wire. Sensing that Dinesh was still alive, he was rushed to the General Hospital in Chris’ car. According to the police media unit, this incident had taken place within 20 minutes of his entry to the cemetery.   Dinesh died just before midnight on that day itself. 

Police investigations

As of today (10th January 2023), the police investigations are continuing with no arrests being made so far. Recently, the Inspector General of Police C.D Wickramaratne called for a top-level meeting to review the progress of the multi-pronged police investigations into the incident. At this meeting, he took action to hand over the case to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).  The police have so far recorded statements from over 175 persons in this regard. Further, his banking transactions, dealings, and mobile phone recordings are under scrutiny at present.  The police are acting on numerous leads while ruling out suicide. So, if it was not a suicide, it should be a homicide.  Following are the main leads the police teams are working on. 

1. Who sent a WhatsApp message to Brian Thomas from the cemetery? At the origination of this message, Dinesh was found to be semi or unconscious.  The English text used in the message was not compatible with Dinesh’s writing style.  However, the passport of Brian Thomas was impounded by the courts pending the investigation. It was not known whether this was an attempt to make Brian Thomas the scapegoat for his death. 
2. Why did Dinesh send an emotional message to his mother-in-law praising her for bringing up such a nice wife for him? This was unusual. His mother-in-law was also questioned as to this text message. It is being investigated whether this was a part of the murder plan. 
3. His wife and family members were questioned as to find out whether there was a family feud. 
4. His business associates are being questioned to find out if there had been any disputes regarding the conduct of business. 
5. A piece of cable found at home which was similar to what strangled Dinesh. 
6. Finally, it was not known whether the investigations are directed to find out whether there was any politically motivated reason to have Dinesh murdered because he was a key witness in the investigation into the Central Bank Bond scam. 

Had Agatha Christie been living today, she would certainly adopt this story for her next detective thriller. Soon, this suspense thriller will come to an end with arrests or no arrests. Then, the general public could judge who was behind the heinous crime.