Sri Lankan Chief of Defence Staff arrested for helping abduction & murder case suspect
Sri Lankan chief of defence staff (CDS) Ravindra Wijegunaratne was arrested on Wednesday and remanded till 5th of next month in a case of protecting an accused in kidnapping case during LTTE war period.
The CDS earlier surrendered to court on Wednesday after weeks of evading arrest as a Colombo court ordered the CID to take necessary action to arrest him. He has been accused of shielding a naval intelligence officer accused of 11 killings for ransom purposes during 2008-09.
The official, who served as navy chief earlier, appeared in court dressed in his military uniform and his bodyguards were accused of attacking media personnel who were trying to take photograph of him. He has also been accused of trying to abduct a key witness during last week who had previously testified against him.
Several members of Sri Lankan military are accused of abductions and extrajudicial killings during the war against LTTE which ended in 2009.
The arrest comes amidst continuing political crisis in the country where Mahinda Rajapksa has been controversially appointed Prime ministerby replacing Ranil Wickremsinghe.
