Namal Kumara dodged military training, forged certificates to join military, CID reveals

Namal Kumara, the police informant who revealed an alleged plot to kill President Maithripala Sirisena and former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, had submitted forged certificates to join the Sri Lanka Army and the Air Force.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) informed the court yesterday that Namal Kumara had deserted the military training twice, after joining the forces with forged certificates.

When the case was called before Colombo Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake yesterday, the CID informed the court that investigations have revealed that Namal Kumara joined the Sri Lanka Air Force in 2009 and walked out from training.

He had then again joined the Sri Lanka Army and deserted the training in 2011.

The CID said the investigations revealed that to join the military, Namal Kumara had provided a fake education certificate, which claimed that he has passed all 10 subjects of the GCE O/L examination, while in truth he has only three passes.

The Magistrate inquired from the CID why they are not investigating the conduct of Namal Kumara. In response, the CID informed the court that investigations have commenced in this regard.

The CID said Namal Kumara’s mobile phone, which was sent to Hong Kong for forensic analysis, contained 427 recorded conversations, 26 videos and photos, and handed over three CDs containing the recorded conversations to the court.

Police further informed the Court that further inquiries are being conducted to determine whether the telephone conversations included the voice of Namal Kumara and former DIG Nalaka Silva.

The Magistrate further remanded the suspects in the alleged assassination plot, former Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Nalaka de Silva and an Indian national, until 16 January, and ordered the Police to produce a report of the progress of the investigations in court.

Namal Kumara, the self-styled director of the Anti-Corruption Force, a local activist group, in September 2018 revealed that DIG Nalaka de Silva discussed an alleged plot to kill President Maithripala Sirisena and former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa with him.

Namal Kumara informed the CID that he is in the possession of voice recordings of the alleged plot with Nalaka de Silva. The CID subsequently commenced investigations regarding the alleged conspiracy.

Based on his allegations, DIG Nalaka de Silva was interdicted, arrested, and remanded by the Court.