Deputy Minister of Public Security Sunil Watagala said that former IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon remains untraceable in the backdrop of the Matara Magistrate’s Court issuing an order to arrest him.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday during the Budget Committee Stage debate, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Chaminda Wijesiri inquired from the ruling party regarding the arrest of the former IGP. Responding, Deputy Minister Sunil Watagala said that the police are acting independently in the process of arresting the former IGP. Meanwhile, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told Parliament on Friday that a key figure who is bound to enforce the law has left his home without his personal security officer and has disappeared.
While he refrained from naming the official, the President expressed confidence that he would surrender to the police over the weekend. The Matara Magistrate’s Court on Friday ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to arrest and produce former IGP Deshabandhu Tennakoon in connection with the shooting incident near the W15 Hotel in Weligama on December 31, 2023. On the day, a team of Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) officers had travelled to Weligama in Matara to apprehend persons linked to notorious underworld figure Nadun Chinthaka Wickremeratne, also known as ‘Harak Kata.’
According to police reports, the officers, dressed in civilian clothing, said they were attacked from inside the W15 Hotel in Weligama, prompting them to return fire in self-defence.
Soon after, a mobile patrol vehicle from the Weligama Police arrived at the scene and mistakenly opened fire on the CCD officers’ van, believing it was transporting criminals.
As a result of the confusion, the van had fled the area, but not before two CCD officers inside had been injured by gunfire. One of the officers, 47-year-old Police Sergeant Upul Chaminda Kumara, later succumbed to his injuries while undergoing medical treatment.
Police Media Spokesperson Senior Superintendent of Police Buddhika Manatunga said that the CID has received orders to arrest and produce Deshabandhu Tennakoon and seven other police officers as suspects in this case. The authorities are working to find and arrest the former IGP and the police also say that investigations are underway.
