Senior Superintendent of Police Shani Abeysekara, the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, has been promoted to the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police, the Daily Mirror reported on Friday.
The promotion takes effect retrospectively from 25 August 2020.
The appointment was approved by the National Police Commission, which decided to elevate Abeysekara to DIG in recognition of the relevant promotion process, according to the report. He continues to serve as CID Director.
The end of a six-year dispute
The promotion gives effect to a ruling delivered earlier this year. In May, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal found that Abeysekara qualified for elevation to DIG with effect from August 2020, and directed that arrears of salary and allowances lost since his suspension be paid.
That date is significant. Abeysekara was arrested in July 2020 and held in remand custody for roughly 11 months before being granted bail. The tribunal’s backdating placed his promotion at the point in 2020 when it would otherwise have fallen due, treating the intervening years as time wrongly lost.
Abeysekara, one of the country’s most prominent detectives, oversaw investigations into a series of high-profile cases before his removal from the CID. He also has a fundamental rights petition before the Supreme Court arising from the same period.
He was reappointed to lead the CID and has since been involved in overseeing several major criminal investigations, the Daily Mirror said.
Sources: Daily Mirror.
