In yet another Court hearing this week related to the Easter Sunday terror attacks, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) made submissions that led to fresh Court orders being issued.
On a request by the CID, Fort Magistrate, Pasan Amarasena imposed travel bans on former Defence Secretary and former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in connection with ongoing investigations on the April 21, 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. Travel restrictions were also imposed on Army Colonel Mohamed Ansar and Army Intelligence Officer Prem Ananda Udalagama.
CID sleuths told the Court the request made based on information provided by several witnesses, including Azad Maulana, former Secretary to Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, better known by his nom de guerre “Pillayan”, as well as former CID heads Prasad Ranasinghe and Nishantha Zoysa, among others.
Investigations into the incident have since then been expedited and former Director of Military Intelligence and former Director of the State Intelligence Service (SIS), Tuan Suresh Sallay has come under legal scrutiny and is now being identified as a possible mastermind. He was arrested on February 25 in Peliyagoda, and witnesses’ statements have made his situation more precarious.
Sam, Pillayan and Karuna
The most controversial witness in this investigation is perhaps Azad Maulana (Mohammad Milhar Mohammed Hansir), former Secretary to Pillayan. His recent detailed statements to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) reportedly outlined the alleged role of Suresh Sallay.
According to Maulana, even before Mahinda Rajapaksa became President in 2005, Suresh Sallay—also known as “Sam”—and the groups led by Pillayan and Karuna Amman had maintained close links. He also said that following a clash at the Aliyar Junction in Kattankudy on March 10, 2017, Easter Sunday suicide bomber Zaharan Hashim’s father, his brother Zainee, and several others were remanded over the incident. While in remand, Zainee and the group had allegedly developed close ties with Pillayan’s faction who was also in custody at the time.
Maulana also said that in August 2017, while Pillayan was held at the Batticaloa prison, he told him that he had discussed with Sallay the presence of a group of extremist Muslim prisoners. According to Maulana, Pillayan said Sallay had suggested that such persons could be “used.”
Zainee and group
According to Maulana, Pillayan had subsequently instructed him to seek the assistance of Suresh Sallay to secure bail for Zainee Hashim and his group. He said that when he conveyed this request to Sallay via WhatsApp, Sallay responded that the money would be handed over at the same time as salaries to members of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) by the Army Intelligence Division.
Maulana said that in September 2017, Rs. 250,000 was provided by the Army Intelligence Division to secure bail for Zainee Hashim and his group through the intervention of Suresh Sallay. The CID told court that Azath Maulana had given a detailed statement in this regard.
Investigators said Maulana also said that Sallay organised a special meeting in January 2018 at a coconut grove in the Puttalam area, attended by Zaharan Hashim, his brother Zainee, and several others.
Maulana said that he was instructed to bring them to the location, where Suresh Sallay allegedly held a private discussion with Zaharan Hashim’s group for more than three hours. Following the meeting, Sallay is said to have told Maulana that Pillayan and his group could be released only if Gotabaya Rajapaksa became President, and that a larger plan was being prepared to achieve this.
Maulana had said that Pillayan had later informed him that Sallay was coordinating a program with Zaharan’s group and instructed him not to disclose the matter to anyone.
Azad Maulana said that on the morning of April 21, 2019, the day of the Easter Sunday attacks Suresh Sallay called him in a panic.
According to Maulana, Sallay allegedly instructed him that a person carrying a bag in front of the Taj Samudra Hotel in Galle Face should be immediately picked up in a vehicle and dropped at a specified location. He also allegedly asked that the person’s phone be taken. Maulana said that when he replied that he was in Batticaloa, Sallay abruptly said “Aiyo” and ended the call.
Maulana alleged that after the attacks, Sallay attempted to cover up these events. He said that in 2020, Sallay met him at the Riu Hotel in Ahungalla and promised him a job at a foreign embassy if he agreed to remain silent.
Azath Maulana had also said that he met Sallay on several other occasions with efforts to secure Pillayan’s release, and that he also met Basil Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa during that period.
The CID has so far confirmed two instances of meetings between Suresh Sallay and Azath Maulana. Investigators informed the Court that Maulana’s claim regarding a meeting at the Ahungalla hotel has been corroborated through phone analysis reports and hotel attendance records. They also told the Court that Sallay himself has acknowledged meeting Maulana on another occasion.
The CID also said Azath Maulana’s statement about the meeting between Basil Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been confirmed by statements from others in Pillayan’s party.
Pettha’s testimony
Another key witness who provided information to the CID regarding Sallay is a person known by the alias “Pettha,” a former informant attached to Army Intelligence.
According to investigators, “Pettha” has given extensive statements since the identification of Suresh Sallay. He alleged that, prior to the Easter Sunday attacks, Sallay contacted an Army officer requesting information on the locations of churches and mosques in Negombo. He said that relevant details and equipment were obtained from an army camp and shared.
He also said that Sallay later instructed him to provide support to a group visiting Muslim villages, and that four persons who arrived had been observed surveying access roads to and from the Katuwapitiya church, as well as other churches, shortly before the attacks. The CID informed the Court that these statements were contained in “Pettha’s” testimony.
Abdul Aziz Rumi, who is said to be a psychologist, is another person who had given statements related to this investigation. He said that he had been a military intelligence agent for a time and that he had dealings with Zaharan and his group.
A Secretary to MP Mujibur Rahman had informed the police within two days of the Easter Sunday terrorist attack that this person was a suspicious person. Just as the police were about to arrest him, a group of military intelligence officers had arrested him, later handed him over to the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID). While he was being held by the TID, he had filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition in which details of certain relationships were included.
He said that Suresh Sallay later met him at a Colombo hotel and expressed regret over the incident. The CID had informed the Court that Rumi was a military informant and that parts of his statement have been corroborated by testimony from some military intelligence officers. It is also alleged that Sallay interfered in the CID investigation into “Sarah Jasmine” (Pulasthini Mahendran), who is believed to have died in the Sainthamaruthu explosion.
Interference and influence
During investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks, testimony given by Senior Police Officers Prasad Ranasinghe, Nishantha Zoysa, and W. Tillakaratne had revealed several significant details concerning Suresh Sallay. Much of this evidence reportedly focused on the alleged interference and influence exercised by Sallay within the National Security Council during his tenure as Director of the State Intelligence Service (SIS).
Retired DIG Prasad Ranasinghe, who previously served as the head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), had also provided statements to investigators regarding the role allegedly played by Suresh Sallay during National Security Council discussions on the Easter Sunday investigations.
According to Ranasinghe’s statement to the CID, Sallay repeatedly criticised the CID’s investigation into “Sarah Jasmine,” who is believed to have died in the Saindamarudu explosion.
He said that during National Security Council meetings, Sallay strongly insisted that the initial DNA test, which had failed to conclusively confirm Sarah Jasmine’s death, should be repeated. Ranasinghe further stated that Sallay told then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa that the CID was not conducting a proper investigation and pushed for a third DNA test to be carried out.
Former CID Director DIG Nishantha Zoysa, who also attended National Security Council meetings during that period, has also said that Sallay strongly criticised the CID’s handling of the investigations. According to Zoysa’s statement, Sallay in particular questioned the credibility of statements given by Zaharan Hashim’s wife, Hadiya. Zoysa has also reportedly detailed how Sallay influenced the decision to conduct a third DNA test relating to Sarah Jasmine.
Statements provided by former CID Director and Deputy Inspector General W. Tillakaratne have also reportedly described instances in which Sallay allegedly interfered with ongoing investigations.
Suresh Sallay, however, has denied all allegations made against him, calling them false. He had said in his testimony that he was in Malaysia and India during the time.
Conditions and treatment
Meanwhile, Sallay’s detention conditions and treatment in custody have become a separate point of controversy, further intensifying public attention on the case. His lawyers have repeatedly raised concerns before the Court regarding his health condition and the state of the detention facility, citing poor ventilation and rat infestation. Sallay has also undergone several medical examinations during his detention.
One of the key allegations raised by the defence was that he had been subjected to a humiliating strip search in front of multiple individuals. According to submissions made in the Court, Sallay told psychiatrists that he had been ordered to remove his clothes, spread his arms, and was struck on both legs during the process. His lawyers said that the treatment amounted to degrading conduct.
Social media speculation later claimed that Sallay had suffered injuries suggesting sexual assault while in custody. However, the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) who examined him reported that there were no injuries to his rectum.
He alleged that, around seven days after his arrest, he was instructed to remove all clothing except his underwear, handcuffed, and made to bend forward. He said that his underwear was pulled down to knee level and that an officer then separated his buttocks and examined the anal area. He also said that he did not experience any pain during the procedure. According to his account, the examination was carried out in the presence of 13 other suspects.
A senior officer of the Police Special Task Force (STF) said that, following underworld figure Harak Kata’s attempt to escape from CID custody by using drugged milk toffees, security procedures were subsequently tightened. He said that since then, suspects held at the CID have been subjected to full-body searches, including strip searches conducted in this manner, and that these searches are not carried out by CID officers.
He added that because some suspects are believed to conceal drugs under their buttocks, areas are inspected during these searches, which are carried out by Special Task Force personnel. The officer added that the examination of Sallay may have been conducted under the same procedure. He also added that Sallay himself said that he did not experience any pain during the process, which, in his view, indicates that the procedure was not intended as torture.
A great relief
Under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), it is a mandatory duty for a Magistrate to visit suspects in detention. Accordingly, on March 24, 2026, the then Colombo Fort Magistrate Isuru Netthikumara visited him at the Criminal Investigation Department. During this visit, Sallay reportedly described the incident to the Magistrate as follows: “…the next night, a group dressed in white came and took me out and asked me to remove my clothes. I was examined in front of all the detainees.”
He said that he had informed his lawyer about the incident when legal counsel met him the following day. While various allegations of sexual abuse were circulated in different forums, he himself reportedly confirmed to the Magistrate what took place was an examination. He also said that, in general, he was being treated properly in detention.
“Specifically, the investigation team treats me well. That is a great relief to me,” he is reported to have told the Magistrate.
Against this backdrop, questions have been raised over the narratives circulating on social media and the broader intent behind some of the criticism directed at investigators handling the Easter Sunday case. At the same time, observers note that multiple strands of evidence continue to emerge in relation to the investigation, with further details expected to be presented in the coming weeks.
Source:Sunday Observer.lk
