Protect Shani

It is reported that former head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Shani Abeysekera has been denied security even after credible threats to his life. In a fundamental rights petition to the Supreme Court earlier this year, SSP Abeysekera made chilling revelations that directly implicated links between the Easter Sunday bombers and several state intelligence agencies. He also claims that there was serious interference by these agencies into the CID investigations into the NTJ operations in the lead up to the Easter attacks.

SSP Abeysekera during his 23-year career at the CID, cracked some of the most emblematic and brutal criminal cases in Sri Lankan history. These include the terrorist attack in 2006 on then defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the 2001 attack on the Katunayake airport base and the attempted assassination of former president Chandrika Kumaratunge by the LTTE in 1999. The CID also investigated the current minister in charge of the Police, Tiran Alles who is accused of providing money to the LTTE in 2005 to orchestrate a boycott of the presidential election that changed the outcome with Mahinda Rajapaksa defeating Ranil Wickremesinghe with the narrowest of margins. 

Investigations carried out by the CID led by SSP Abeysekara include the murder of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga, the abduction and killing of 11 mostly Tamil men by a unit of the Navy and the enforced disappearance of Prageeth Eknaligoda attributed to a unit of the Army. It is safe to say that Abeysekara has made several powerful enemies who are responsible for these heinous crimes and continue to hold high office.

In July 2020 under the Gotabaya Rajapaksa presidency, SSP Abeysekera was arrested by the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) which accused him of introducing weapons to implicate former Deputy Inspector-General Vass Gunawardena, who was convicted of the 2013 murder of businessman Mohamed Shiyam. Gunawardena was found guilty by a High Court trial-at-bar and sentenced to death. Then ASP Shani Abeysekera received formal commendations for his excellent investigations that led to the conviction.

After his arrest, Abeysekera was incarcerated for 11 months in connection over what the Court of Appeal later called a “concocted story.” Sri Lanka’s best known super-sleuth contracted COVID-19 and experienced a life-threatening cardiac event while imprisoned. His lawyers, activists and foreign governments had to lobby for basic healthcare to be provided for the former Director of the CID.

In June 2021, the Court of Appeal order granting bail to Abeysekara took note of the blatant attempt by the CCD to frame him. The court found that the weapons Abeysekara had discovered during his investigation into the Shiyam murder were indeed traced to Vass Gunawardena, who in fact had admitted to it in his dock statement. “On account of the said unusual and extraordinary delay, the complaint has not only lost the benefit of the advantage of spontaneity, but also smacks of the introduction of a fabricated, false version and an exaggerated account or concocted story involving a set of collaborators or conspirators, to unduly cause prejudice and harm to the suspect Shani Abeysekara, for collateral purposes,” the Court said.

Among those who are currently persecuted is Abeysekara’s subordinate at the CID, Police Sub-Inspector Sugath Mendis who was also wrongfully interdicted and incarcerated. Despite a Supreme Court order to pay his salary for the period he was incarcerated it has not been carried out.

These actions against former police officers who carried out investigations into some of the most heinous crimes committed by those with political and military power demonstrate the continuing danger to their lives. It is imperative that President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles and Inspector General of Police C.D. Wickramaratne be held personally responsible for the safety of SSP Abeysekera and other police officers under threat.