Angunukolapelessa pistol corporal remanded

Angunukolapelessa pistol corporal remanded ....

water-bottle story, a creation ....

A weapon also in vehicle in which corporal came  

The Army corporal who drew close armed with a weapon at a meeting in which President Maithripala Sirisena

attended at Angunakolapelessa last 25th has been taken into custody by the CID and had been remanded till next 12th.

The suspect-corporal is one Senaka Kumara attached to the Commando Unit of the army. This corporal who had entered the festival premises by posing off as a security officer of member of parliament Mr. Namal Rajapaksa on the day of the incident had come to the CID with his driver and told on the previous occasion that he had left the weapon assigned to him on duty in the cabbie-hole in the cab-truck in which he came. Suspicions of the CID has been aroused that if it was so, whether it was some other weapon that he had concealed behind his waist when the suspect entered the premises. Though a high official had noted that he was carrying a pistol in his person, action not having been taken in that instance had been subjected to suspicion as well and this corporal was cordoned by 3 officers of the police special task force when he came into their attention at 15 metres distance from the spot where the President was. They had observed and identified the weapon when they noted that the shirt which he was wearing was raised from behind.

After it was discovered and after it was informed that he had come in the company of Mr. Namal Rajapaksa, an officer of President's Security who was there had released him and the CID is conducting further inquiries as to how that had taken place.

As a consequence of this, Intelligence Services point out that security operations for the President has seriously collapsed. The contradictory statements made by the suspect-corporal during interrogation by the CID has directed the investigations in another direction, it is reported. By now, statements of 40 persons including higher-ups in the police force who were directing security activities in that place have been recorded.

The CID has calculated the time when the President arrived at the meeting by helicopter on the day of the incident and the moment when this suspect drew nigh to the stage. It was revealed at investigations carried out by the CID that this army corporal had been attached to the security unit of the former President. The police state that MP Namal Rajapaksa has no authority to use the services of a corporal of the army as a private security-man and that he should have been released by the army which rule has not been adhered to. MP Namal Rajapaksa who had initially rejected the point that the corporal had a weapon in his possession had later told the Island Newspaper that it was a water-bottle which was in possession of his security-man. What a high official of the police had told the media was that the CID are contemplating on the suspicion that as a result of this incident having been revealed and become the focus of attention on the day of the incident whether the corporal had received 'created' advice by someone at the President's Security Unit or some other security officer to divert the sensational suspicion which spread around in another direction.

It is reported that the CID is engaged in a survey to ascertain whether it is the same personnel who were in service in the past as well as the present working in the security forces still and if a problem about the honesty is involved in such circumstances.

The army corporal has been taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department and after having been produced before the Angunakolapelessa Additional Magistrate has been remanded until 12th May. The suspect has been produced not before the Additional Magistrate Mr. Prabath Weerasingha by the police at the time he was being remanded but has been produced before a different attorney-at-law, Mr. Indika Wijeyratna who holds the position of additional magistrate and remanding the suspect is a problem, lawyers of the suspect have pointed out.

Under the above circumstances Attorney-at-Law Mr. Chatura Koralage has said that the relevant order is rendered null and void and it also therefore violates the fundamental rights of the suspect.