The Criminal Investigation Department told the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on Monday that former MPs Udaya Gammanpila and Wimal Weerawansa and Dialogue Sri Lanka leader Dilith Jayaweera were part of a group of “politically affiliated individuals” engaged in a planned effort to indirectly interfere with and obstruct the ongoing investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.
The submission was made to Magistrate Pasan Amarasena via a motion, while CID was informing the court that steps had been taken to admit former State Intelligence Service Director Major General (Retired) Suresh Sallay — who is held under detention orders — to the Colombo National Hospital. CID investigating officers told the magistrate that Sallay himself had been acting in a manner that was detrimental to the investigation, and that those actions were being supported by the named individuals.
CID further told the court there was “reasonable suspicion that this plan is being carried out with the intention of preventing the exposure of previously undisclosed political links connected to the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks.”
The motion marks the first time the investigating unit has formally named opposition political figures in open court in connection with alleged obstruction of the Easter probe, and lands in the middle of a fast-moving 72-hour cycle around Sallay’s custody. The former intelligence chief was admitted to the Colombo National Hospital’s Emergency Treatment Unit from CID custody on Sunday and his family is calling the action a “fast unto death” hunger strike. Opposition parties on Sunday evening said they would launch an indefinite protest at the Colombo Fort Railway Station, and the protest formally began on Monday after an earlier overnight tent set up at the venue was removed by police.
The Catholic Church separately called on the same day for the criminal investigations into the attacks to continue without political interference; the Archdiocese spokesperson rejected what he said was an attempt by Sallay to settle a parallel defamation case tied to the same investigation.
Gammanpila, Weerawansa and Dilith Jayaweera have all in recent weeks been publicly critical of the CID’s handling of Sallay’s custody, including a joint sathyagraha protest in Colombo earlier on Monday, and have characterised the detention as a politically motivated prosecution. None had responded publicly to the CID’s motion as of Monday evening.
Reporting the same court submission on Tuesday and citing the state newspaper Dinamina, Newswire said CID officers had also told the court that “organised efforts are underway to create hostility and dissatisfaction among the public against investigating officers, mobilise protests against the Police Department and CID, and undermine the credibility of investigators.” Those organised activities, the CID told the court, were being directed by Gammanpila, Weerawansa and Jayaweera and posed “a serious threat to uncovering the full truth behind the Easter Sunday tragedy.”
