Justice Priyantha Jayawardena, a member of the seven-member bench which gave a historic ruling last December, today recused from the bench gearing former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda's case. 

Jayawardena announced today that he would step down from the bench due to "personal reasons." Unofficial sources said Jayawardena/ had appeared for Karannagoda as a lawyer while in the private bar. 

The Supreme Court, however, put off Karannagoda's case until March 07. Although Romesh de Silva PC appearing on behalf of Karannagoda sought an undertaking from the Attorney General's Department that Karannagoda won't be arrested until the next hearing of the case, Deputy Solicitor General Virj Dayaratne said in no uncertain terms that such an undertaking was not possible. 

Karannagoda's lawyers. this week, submitted a Fundamental Rights petition to the Supreme Court requesting an order preventing his arrest by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

According to several newspaper reports, the CID last week reportedly has named Admiral Karannagoda as the 14th suspect in the abductions case of 11 youths between 2008/09 for ransom.

Current Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne is also a suspect in the case. Karannagoda is also a former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Japan.