-Written by Sunanda Deshapriya
(Lanka-e-News -03.Oct.2024, 8.00 pm) High-level sources indicate that the Easter Sunday attack investigation cannot be restarted unless the officials appointed to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) under Ranil Rajapaksa and Tiran Alles are removed. During a press conference held day before yesterday (1st), Minister Vijitha Herath clarified that his earlier statement regarding the restart of the Easter attack investigation had been misunderstood, according to sources from the Ministry of Public Security.
Rohan Premarathna, the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) appointed by then Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles in January 2024, is currently the head of the CID. He had previously been implicated in a 7.5 million rupee fraud in 2022. A police investigation revealed that this fraud involved the illegal release of confiscated foreign currency related to drug trafficking. It was also discovered that Premarathna improperly influenced the lifting of a travel ban on a suspect in the case.
A report presented to the courts by the police in 2022 detailed how Premarathna, while serving as the director of the CID, used his position to exert undue pressure on officials, threatening them to present false reports to the court. The Colombo Additional Magistrate ordered the bribery commission to report on the case, which remains under investigation.
In addition to this, the current head of investigations at the CID, Induka de Silva, is known for conducting a controversial third DNA test that allegedly confirmed that Sara Jasmine, a key figure connected to the Easter attacks, had died in a suicide blast in Sainthamaruthu in 2019. However, senior police officer Samantha Wijesekara testified before the Presidential Commission on the Easter Attack in July 2020, disputing the claim that Jasmine had died in the explosion. Jasmine’s national identity card was found in the house where the blast occurred, raising questions about whether she had escaped.
Another key figure in question is Major General Suresh Saleh, the current head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS), who continues to hold his position despite being suspected in relation to the Easter attack. How an investigation can proceed with him still in office remains a critical question, according to the sources.
These issues suggest that restarting the Easter Sunday attack investigation under the current officials, appointed by former Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles, would be a futile effort.
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by (2024-10-03 14:39:40)
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