9 March 2016 01:32 pm
The CID arrested the Ven. Thera at the Alan Mathiniyaramaya Temple in Polhengoda this afternoon.
Earlier, the Thera had filed a Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court seeking an Interim Order preventing the Police from arresting him.
Last month, the Attorney General directed the CID to arrest Ven. Uduwe Thera and produced before the Court for keeping the baby elephant at the Temple illegally.
The CID informed Court that they had enough evidence to file a case against the Ven. Thera under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance.
Wildlife Department officers had raided the temple on January 28, 2015 and found a two-and-half-year-old elephant calf and took it into custody.
The Ven. Thera had not been able to produce any documents that gave him permission to keep the elephant calf, according to the CID.
The Thera had been asked to give a statement to the CID on January over the charges. However, the Thera had admitted himself to a private hospital, without reporting to the CID and later they had record his statement at the hospital.
The Ven. Uduwe Thera said at a news conference last month that he only nurtured the elephant calf that was abandoned at his temple.(Darshana Sanjeewa)
Video by Court Prasanna