Two cops, arrested over assault on youth in Medawachchiya, remanded

UPDATE: The police sergeant and the constable of Medawachchiya Police Station who were arrested over the alleged assault on a youth on 07 April, have been remanded until 16 April.

Two police officers attached to Medawachchiya Police Station have been arrested by the Kebithigollewa Crimes Unit over the alleged assault on a youth on April 07 in Medawachchiya.

Accordingly, a Police Sergeant and a Constable attached to Medawachchiya Police have been arrested for allegedly inhumanely assaulting the youth after taking the latter into custody.

They are to be produced before the Kebithigollewa Magistrate’s Court later today (11), police said. 

According to the Police Media Division, in the evening of April 07, a group of police officers on traffic duty near the Medawachchiya primary school on the Mannar-Medawachchiya road had signalled a small lorry heading towards Mannar to stop.

However, the lorry driver had ignored the police directive to stop the vehicle and continued forward prompting the police officers to give chase. 

While the lorry was evading the police and proceeding through byroads another team of police officers from the same station who were travelling in a three-wheeler for an operation in the area had noticed this lorry fleeing.

These officers had also chased after the lorry and managed to intercept the vehicle on a byroad. But as the officers were preparing to search the vehicle they had started it sped away once again. 

The police officer had finally succeeded in stopping the small lorry in the Thulaveliya area after continuing to give chase. Prior to their arrest, the lorry driver’s assistant had attempted to throw away a plastic bottle containing 05 litres of illicit liquor.

The driver’s assistant, 20, was arrested with the said illicit liquor while the lorry driver, 23, was arrested on charges of driving under the influence, driving without a valid license, ignoring police orders and dangerous driving. Both are residents of Thulaveliya in Medawachchiya. 

While the arrested suspects were in police custody, the lorry driver had complained of severe abdominal pain and was subsequently admitted to the Medawachchiya Hospital and later transferred to Anuradhapura Hospital. 

The suspect has informed Anuradhapura Hospital Police that the officers of the Medawachchiya Police Station had repeatedly assaulted him during the arrest. The Kebithigollewa Division Crimes Unit had launched an investigation into the complaint and arrested the two police officers in question over the said incident, police said.