Rajitha Senaratne remanded until the 10th of June over white van press conference

This morning, following a request made by the Attorney General's Department, the Colombo Chief Magistrate ordered that Rajitha Senaratne's bail application be taken up at a separate court.

At the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court the suspect, Ex-Minister Senaratne was not produced and the application for bail was made by President's Counsel Anil Silva.

Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris appearing on behalf of the prosecution requested the Chief Magistrate to move the bail application to a separate judge considering the events of the past related to the case.

The defense counsel said he has no objection towards the bail application being taken up in the presence of a separate judge adding he is disappointed over the request made by the Attorney General.

President's Counsel Anil Silva appearing for Senaratne said he was amazed by the stance adopted by the Attorney General in this case as opposed to other cases.

In response, Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris noted the request was made, for the bail application to be made in the presence of a judge with an independent mindset.

In open court, Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne said judges are capable of making decisions with an independent mindset.

However, she said she is prepared to direct the bail application to a separate judge if a party believes there is a level of bias by a certain judge and therefore, ordered for the application to be called up in the presence of Colombo Additional Magistrate Priyantha Liyanage.