A police sergeant has been arrested over the death of a man held in custody at the Kobeigane Police Station, and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has opened a separate investigation into the same death — two developments reported within two hours of each other on Sunday afternoon.
The arrested officer was serving on attachment to the Kobeigane station, Hiru News reported at 3.28 p.m. Colombo time. Police said he was a sergeant who had taken part in the raid in which the man was detained.
The arrest is an escalation. Three officers — two sergeants and a constable were suspended on Friday over alleged dereliction of duty — had until now faced disciplinary action only.
The rights commission steps in
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has launched its own investigation into the custodial death, NewsFirst reported at 1.46 p.m. Its filing also records the three earlier suspensions.
An HRCSL inquiry runs independently of the police investigation and of any criminal prosecution, and the commission has its own powers to summon officers and take evidence.
How the man came to be in custody
The man was detained on 26 October in the Baddegama area of Kobeigane in connection with a number of thefts, Hiru reported. He had been seized by residents before being handed to police, and a video showing him tied to a tree circulated on social media.
Five villagers who seized him were arrested earlier in the case.
Not reported
Neither filing names the arrested sergeant, states what offence he has been arrested for, or says whether he has been produced before a magistrate. Neither reports whether he is one of the three officers already suspended or a fourth officer, which determines whether four officers are now implicated or three. Neither gives the HRCSL’s terms of reference or a reporting date, and neither carries the post-mortem findings or any account from the dead man’s family.
Hiru describes the deceased as a young man; this desk’s earlier reporting, following the Daily Mirror and NewsFirst, recorded his age as 41. Neither of Sunday’s filings restates it.
