Shani Abeysekara arrested

Former Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Shani Abeysekara has been arrested by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) on charges of allegedly fabricating evidence over a firearms case.

The Police Spokesperson SSP Jaliya Senaratne said Abeysekara was taken into custody at around 7.05 am this morning (31) at his residence in Matha Road, Colombo 08.

Eight suspects including the former Police DIG Vaas Gunawardena, his wife, and son, identified as suspects in the murder of businessman Mohamed Siyam, were placed under arrest in 2013.

Probes were also carried out into Gunawardena’s alleged illegal possession of weapons.

During the investigations, the CID had presented submissions to the court that a stash of weapons purportedly owned by Gunawardena was recovered from a house in the area of Kalagedihena in Gampaha.

The owner of the house and his wife were arrested this year, under the orders of Gampaha Magistrate.

However, two police officers, the owner of the house and his wife, who gave evidence on the recovered weapons stash recently, had altered their testimonies, the Police Spokesperson said.

They had divulged that the said weapons cache was hidden at the said location by the former CID director himself.

Accordingly, based on these revised testimonies, the CCD launched an investigation into the incident under the directives of the IGP and arrested Abeysekara this morning.

The Police Spokesperson further stated that information on two other suspects linked to the relevant incident has been unveiled.