The Central Crime Investigation Bureau has opened an investigation into a social media video that police say falsely accuses Dematagoda Police of assaulting a young man, and has recorded a statement from a lawyer who promoted it.
The investigation was launched on the instructions of Inspector General of Police Priyantha Weerasooriya, the Daily Mirror reported at 4.46 p.m. Colombo time on Monday, with Hiru News reporting the same at 5.27 p.m., citing a Police Media Division statement.
Attorney-at-Law Sudath Wickramaratne was summoned to the CCIB on Monday and a statement was recorded from him, both outlets report. Further investigation is continuing.
What the video claims
According to police, a young man suspected of writing a “Vas Kavi” — a traditional imprecatory, or curse, poem — on or around 22 October 2026 was summoned to the Dematagoda Police Station, where a statement was recorded from him.
A video then circulated on social media claiming that the young man had been assaulted at the station. Police say that claim is false, and that the video amounts to defamatory and untrue publicity about the incident.
Hiru’s account is the same in substance: the Police Media Division says a statement was recorded from the suspect, and that a video containing false publicity about the incident was then circulated.
Context
The case is one of several this month in which police conduct and police communications have drawn scrutiny online. This desk reported on 23 October on a Human Rights Commission complaint over a police Facebook post.
It also lands while police conduct in custody is under scrutiny on a separate and far more serious matter: three Homagama Police officers were suspended on Monday and the Public Security Minister ordered an independent inquiry after a man died in custody there. The two cases are not connected, and nothing in either filing links them.
What is not established
Neither filing names the young man said to have written the poem, says whether he was arrested or only questioned, or reports what offence the writing of a “Vas Kavi” is being treated as. Neither says what the poem was about or whom it was directed at.
Neither outlet reports in what capacity Wickramaratne was summoned — whether as a suspect, a witness, or the subject of a complaint — nor whether he made the video, appeared in it, or shared it. No charge has been reported against him or anyone else, and neither filing carries any response from him.
Neither outlet reports who made the video, how widely it circulated, which platform it appeared on, or whether the alleged victim or his family has made any statement. Police have not said what evidence establishes that no assault occurred, and no finding has been made by any court. The Police Media Division is the sole source for the police account in both filings.
