Notorious underworld gangster Mohomed Niyas Naufer alias ‘Potta Naufer’ has died after contracting COVID-19, Prison Spokesperson Chandana Ekanayake said.
Naufer was serving death sentence for the murder of High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya.
After he was tested positive for COVID-19, he had been transferred from Boossa Prison to Welikada Prison.
Ekanayake said that Naufer was also being treated for a kidney disease as well.
Five people were accuse of murdering Judge Ambepitiya were sentenced to death by a three bench judge panel of the Colombo High Court, in 2005.
Naufer was the fifth defendant of the case and he was convicted of conspiring to murder and of aiding and abetting of the killing.
Judge Ambepitiya was shot dead in November 2004.