Former State Intelligence Service director retired Major General Suresh Salley can be discharged from the National Hospital in Colombo and will be returned to Criminal Investigation Department custody, the Fort Magistrate’s Court was told on Tuesday — ending a hospital stay that has run since early June.
A ten-member medical committee of National Hospital doctors informed Magistrate Pasan Amarasena that Salley’s condition is suitable for release from hospital care, the Daily Mirror reported. Additional Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris then told the court Salley would be taken back into CID custody.
NewsFirst reported the Attorney General informed court that the handover would take place on Tuesday evening, following the discharge.
How the detention has run
Salley was arrested on 25 February and held under a 90-day detention order for questioning as part of an ongoing investigation. He was admitted to the National Hospital on 7 June after developing health complications and has remained under medical care since — just under four months.
Authorities had previously told the court that the prolonged hospitalisation was obstructing the inquiry, making it difficult to record statements. A further 90-day detention order was issued against him on 25 August to allow investigators to continue.
This was the hearing the court ordered a week ago
Tuesday’s appearance is the one the court set up on 2 October, when Magistrate Amarasena ordered 10 doctors from Salley’s medical board to appear before him on 6 October after the CID noted that the board’s earlier recommendation — that he remain admitted until 28 September — had lapsed.
That order has now produced an answer. It also partly settles a discrepancy LankaNewz flagged at the time: the board appointed in September was described in earlier reporting as a five-member panel, while the body that reported to court on Tuesday is described by the Daily Mirror as a ten-member committee, consistent with the number of doctors summoned. Neither outlet explains how the panel grew.
Salley is being investigated in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks. Earlier in the proceedings the prosecution told the court it regarded his admission as a “medical conspiracy”, and the National Hospital’s director was placed under notice to explain a failure to produce records.
Not reported
Neither filing says what the medical committee found, whether any member dissented, or why the panel’s composition differs from the five-member board named in September. Nothing is reported about the state of the underlying investigation, whether the existing detention order has time left to run, or when Salley is next due in court. No comment from his legal team appears in either report.
