The officer-in-charge of the Homagama police Crime Division has been arrested over the death of a man held in that station’s custody — the first arrest reported in the case, and one made within hours of the Homagama Magistrate ordering that suspects be taken into custody and produced before court.
Hiru News reported the arrest at 6.58 p.m. Colombo time on Wednesday.
It follows the morning’s court order directly
The arrest comes after Homagama Magistrate Rajindra Jayasuriya directed the Colombo South Crimes Division to expedite its investigation, arrest those suspected in the case and bring them before the court — an order this desk reported earlier on Wednesday. That order was made on a motion filed jointly by the dead man’s relatives and several civil society organisations.
That report recorded that the filing did not say whether any arrest had yet been made. It now has: one has, roughly an hour after the order was reported.
Which officer this is
The arrested officer is the OIC of the station’s Crime Division — not the officer-in-charge of Homagama police station itself. The distinction matters, because the two posts have been separately in issue this week.
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka summoned the station OIC and two other officers to appear before it on Thursday. Separately, three Homagama officers have been suspended: two Sub-Inspectors serving as officers-in-charge of the Crime Division and the Anti-Vice Raids Unit, and a Police Constable who was on duty at the time.
The officer arrested on Wednesday evening holds the first of those two posts. Whether he is the same Sub-Inspector already under suspension is not stated in the filing, though the posts match.
The case so far
Ishara Harsha Kumara, 29, died after being taken into custody at the Homagama police station. A post-mortem examination has been carried out and returned an open verdict — the cause of death was not determined — with samples referred to the Government Analyst, whose results remain outstanding.
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka wrote to the Inspector General of Police demanding that “contradictory statements” about the death be transparently investigated. The Public Security Minister has instructed the IGP to conduct a prompt and independent inquiry. On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa called the death a step towards a police state and tied it to two bills now before Parliament.
Not reported
The filing does not name the arrested officer, give his rank, or say where or at what hour he was taken into custody. It does not say on what charge or under what statute the arrest was made, whether he has been produced before a magistrate, or when he is due in court.
It does not say whether further arrests are expected, how many suspects the magistrate’s order covers, or whether the two other suspended officers are among them. It does not say whether the arrest affects Thursday’s Human Rights Commission proceedings, or whether the arrested officer is one of the three summoned.
No statement from the police, the Attorney-General’s Department or the officer’s representatives is reported.
Single source at this hour. This filing is some 40 minutes old at the time of writing. The Daily Mirror’s breaking-news listing carried no report of the arrest when checked directly, and NewsFirst’s rail carried none. Ada Derana — which would ordinarily be checked for a story of this weight — has returned an HTTP 403 block to this desk for some 48 consecutive days and could not be consulted. This desk expects corroboration within hours and will add it.