Azath Salley influenced Mawanella Buddha statue vandalizing probe

Former Western Province Governor Azath Salley has reportedly influenced the police probe into the vandalizing of Buddha statues in Mawanella, as revealed during a four-hour statement given to the CID by a retired top cop on Saturday.

The Criminal Investigation Department sleuths who recorded a statement from retired Kegalle DIG Palitha Siriwardena at his Homagama residence on Saturday for over four and half hours has surfaced the alleged involvement of Mr. Salley in the Mawanella Buddha statue probe.

The CID was conducting investigations to determine whether the Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara had passed down the intelligence reports received from the Indian espionage service of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) on April 8th, 2019 about an impending attack in Colombo on the day of the Easter.

Rtd. DIG Siriwardena who was then DIG in charge of Kegalle District during the incident of vandalizing Buddha statues in Mawanella in December 2018 and the possible links of the arrested suspects with those who are responsible for the Easter Sunday carnage on April 21st, had been questioned at length about the police investigations. Siriwardena who retired from service in June 2019 had reportedly disclosed that on several occasions ex-Governor Salley had inquired about the arrested suspects of the Buddha statue incident and related matters. The investigations into the vandalizing of Buddha statues had been carried out by a police unit under the retired DIG’s purview. The retired DIG was also said to have disclosed how some irregularities in maintaining and acting on the received intelligence reports regarding the Easter attack. (Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana)