The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has formally asked the Inspector General of Police to order an immediate and impartial investigation into the death of a 29-year-old man in Homagama Police custody. Hours later, the Police Media Spokesman said he had never made the statement the Bar Association quoted him as making — and rejected it outright.

The two filings together turn a disputed death into a dispute about the record itself.

What the Bar Association asked for

The BASL wrote to the IGP and “all relevant authorities” on Tuesday seeking an immediate, impartial, transparent and comprehensive investigation, the Daily Mirror reported at 3.00 p.m. Colombo time.

The association said a death in custody is a matter of the gravest concern, and that the State carries a “fundamental and non-delegable duty” to safeguard the life, health and bodily integrity of every person it holds. Any allegation of custodial violence or ill-treatment, it said, must be treated with the utmost seriousness and, if established, dealt with strictly according to law.

It grounded the demand in Article 13(4) of the Constitution, noting that the higher judiciary’s jurisprudence affirms that deprivation of life cannot be imposed as punishment except by order of a competent court — an obligation, the BASL said, that requires law enforcement to protect the rights and dignity of people in custody.

In a matter involving an allegation of custodial violence, the statement added, public confidence requires that no reasonable question is left unanswered and that anyone responsible for wrongdoing is held accountable.

The letter is dated 27 October 2026 and was signed by BASL President Rajeev Amarasuriya and Secretary Nalin De Silva.

The spokesman’s denial

Just after midnight, Hiru News reported that the Police Media Spokesman — named by Hiru as Assistant Superintendent of Police F.U. Wootler — “firmly rejects” a statement attributed to him in the BASL release.

According to Hiru’s account, the BASL release had drawn a contrast: family members say the body bore injuries indicating a severe assault, while the Police Media Spokesman had said the suspect suffered a sudden illness during an operation. It was that contrast the association pointed to in arguing that the background to the death must be independently established and the contradictory statements transparently investigated.

The spokesman’s position is that he never made such a statement at any time, that he regrets the association’s characterisation, and that he “completely rejects” the allegations.

What the denial does and does not cover

The denial is narrow, and the distinction matters.

It addresses the attribution of the “sudden illness” account to the spokesman personally. It is not, on the face of Hiru’s report, a statement that the police position on the cause of death has changed, nor a denial that such an account was given by the force at all.

That account has been in circulation since Monday. This desk’s earlier report on the death recorded the Daily Mirror’s reporting that police said the man, brought to the station after a raid, had suddenly fallen ill and died after being admitted to hospital. The Daily Mirror attributed that to police, not specifically to the media spokesman. Tuesday’s denial therefore disputes who said it, not whether the force advanced the illness account.

Neither filing resolves which is correct.

Where the case stands

The man, named in earlier reporting as Francis Durage Ishara Harsha Kumara of Kirivattuduwa, was arrested in a drug raid in the early hours of Sunday and died after being taken to Homagama Base Hospital. His relatives allege he was beaten in custody.

Three officers, including the officer-in-charge of the Homagama Police Criminal Investigation Division, have been suspended. The Public Security Minister has instructed the IGP to conduct a prompt and independent investigation.

A post-mortem examination ordered by the Homagama Magistrate’s Court has already been carried out, and returned an undetermined cause of death. That matters to the dispute now running: with the medical evidence inconclusive, the competing accounts of what happened in the station cannot be settled by the autopsy alone, which is the gap the BASL is pointing at.

Not reported

Neither filing addresses the post-mortem or what further forensic work, if any, has been ordered. Neither says whether the IGP has responded to the BASL letter, nor whether the spokesman’s denial was issued in writing or at a briefing. Hiru does not quote the BASL release directly, so the exact wording the spokesman objects to is not on the record in either report.

Corroborated — two verified newsrooms, reporting different halves of the day. The Daily Mirror carries the BASL letter; Hiru carries the police response. Neither outlet reports both. Ada Derana could not be checked — its site has returned HTTP 403 to this desk for more than six weeks.