Former Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Head Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) (Retd.) Ravi Seneviratne, in a fundamental rights (FR) petition filed at the Supreme Court (SC), has levelled damning allegations against several parties including Public Security Minister Rear Admiral (Retd.) Dr. Sarath Weerasekera and intelligence agencies such as the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) and the State Intelligence Service (SIS), in connection with the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 21 April 2019.
In the petition, he has stated that an anonymous petition had been addressed to Public Security Ministry Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Jagath Alwis, alleging that certain CID officers are responsible for the said terror attacks. SDIG Seneviratne further alleged that Weerasekera, in a recent parliamentary speech, has mentioned all the allegations mentioned in the said anonymous petition. Therefore, he claimed that he believes that there is a connection between the said anonymous petition and Weerasekera’s speech.
The petitioner also stated that the DMI and the SIS are suspected to have conspired to plant a motorcycle jacket in a school bag, in order to mislead CID investigations into the murder of two police officers in the Vavunativu area in 2018, and to thereby prevent the CID from discovering the real assailants involved in the murders. Due to the confusions caused by the SIS and the DMI, the CID officers had discovered only after the terror attacks that the said murders were committed by the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) group, he claimed.
He also stated that on 2 February 2019, he, together with then CID Director Shani Abeysekara, had met then President Maithripala Sirisena and explained that the attacks on Buddhist statues in Mawanella and the stock of explosives discovered in the Wanathawilluwa area were connected to the NTJ and that therefore, the same should be taken into serious consideration. He had requested Sirisena to bring this matter to the attention of the National Security Council (NSC). However, Seneviratne said that although Sirisena had mentioned that he would give an opportunity to the petitioner to present a briefing on the matter to the NSC, the said undertaking was not put into effect.
The petition further mentioned: “After the recovery of a stock of explosives in Wanathawilluwa, the CID officers conducted further investigations. The CID officers were then able to identify a person called Badurdeen Mohamed Mohideen alias Army Mohideen. Later on, Police Sergeant Nandalal and Sub Inspector of Police (SI) Dias, both attached to the CID, had used him as an informant to trace the NTJ and its activities. After the Easter Sunday terror attacks, efforts were made to impugn the bona fides of these CID officers for using Army Mohideen as an informant. However, Army Mohideen has not to date been named as a suspect in the investigations into any of the incidents that took place on or subsequent to 21 April 2019.”
SDIG Seneviratne further stated that following the terror attacks, the CID officers became aware through the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about an internet protocol (IP) address belonging to an individual who had been in frequent communication with NTJ Leader Zahran Hashim. “The CID began interrogating the said individual who refused to give any information about his connection to Zahran or to the NTJ. Thereafter, the Defence Ministry, through then DMI Director Brig. Chula Kodithuwakku, prevented the CID from detaining the said individual, asserting that his activities were a part of a secret military Intelligence operation,” he added.
He also said that the CID was able to find out about a person called “Podi Zahran” alias Matale Zahran who lived in Matale, who had connections with the NTJ. According to him, Matale Zahran was arrested by police officers attached to the Matale Police and that later on the same day, he was again arrested by the CID. While he was being interrogated by the CID, SDIG Seneviratne said that it came to light that Matale Zahran had communicated with a person called “Sonic Sonic”, after which the CID was able to locate the subscriber identification/identity module (SIM) card of the said “Sonic Sonic” through an IP address. “According to the investigations, it was revealed that the SIM which was used by ‘Sonic Sonic’ had been obtained under the name of a woman Police Sergeant attached to the Colombo City Traffic Division. The CID interrogated the said woman Police Sergeant and she revealed that she had given the said SIM card to one SI Bandara who was attached to the SIS, with whom she claimed she was having an affair with. When the CID proceeded to interrogate SI Bandara, the SIS DIG Sampath Liyanage informed to not proceed with the said interrogation as the involvement of SI Bandara with Matale Zahran is a part of a covert operation which is directly connected to national security. However, the CID managed to get a statement, but SI Bandara refused to divulge any information with regard to his connection with ‘Matale Zahran’,” the petition read.
Further claiming that he became aware that then SIS Director Nilantha Jayawardena had sent a report to the CID for the first time, providing the full details of the NTJ command structure and evidence of their involvement in the killing of the two police officers in Vavunativu a few hours after the terror attacks on 21 April 2019, he said that the CID had been searching for Zahran Hashim for the past four months with no support from the intelligence services. He said that if this specific information related to the NTJ command structure and the murder of the two police officers were made available to the CID or provided to the NSC prior to the attacks, the attacks would have been prevented.