Former IGP CD's security says this

The magisterial inquiry into the death by shooting of former IGP Chandana Deepal Wickramaratne was held before Kaduwela Magistrate Aruna Indrajith Buddadasa. There, testifying under the direction of the Western South Special Investigations Unit, Police Sergeant (697) Prasanna of the VIP Protection Division, who had served as the former IGP's personal security officer for over 16 years, stated that on the day of his death, the former IGP had asked him for the pistol and its ammunition, claiming he wanted to inspect it, and then shot himself.

Testifying in open court, the personal security officer stated as follows:

"I have been serving as the personal security officer of former IGP C.D. Wickramaratne for over 16 years. During this time, Sir has never asked me for the pistol for any reason. Also, he never took water bottles on any day he went for exercise. He never told me to bring water bottles either. On the day of the incident, Sir was dressed in exercise clothes to go for exercise, but he was not wearing shoes at that time. Normally, Sir would not be ready to go for exercise without wearing shoes. However, on this day, even though he was wearing exercise clothes, he was not wearing shoes. That day, Sir told me, 'Prasanna, give me your pistol to check.' I gave the pistol to Sir. However, I did not give him the ammunition. Then Sir said, 'Give me the ammunition to check.' Since Sir asked for it, I gave him the magazine with ammunition. After taking the pistol and the magazine with ammunition from me, Sir told me, 'Prasanna, go get a water bottle for exercise.' I went to get a water bottle. As I was going, I heard a gunshot. When I went to check, Sir was lying there, shot. Together with the family members, we quickly took Sir to Mulleriyawa Hospital, and later it was learned that Sir had passed away."

The court had ordered the investigations conducted by Talangama Police into the death by shooting of the former IGP at his Talanghena residence on July 17th, to be handed over to the Western South Special Investigations Unit, as per Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, under the instructions of Attorney-at-Law Priyantha Weerasuriya. A request for this had been made to the Kaduwela Court by the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the Western South Division.

The court also ordered that the pistol suspected to be involved in the incident, the magazine with live ammunition, and the empty cartridge casing be sent to the Government Analyst for a report.

The Judicial Medical Officer of Mulleriyawa Base Hospital, East Colombo, has not yet stated the cause of death in the post-mortem examination, and only an open verdict has been given. Accordingly, the final post-mortem report related to the death is scheduled to be submitted to the Kaduwela Magistrate's Court on a future date.