Shani Abeysekara files FR seeking injunction to prevent his arrest again

Criminal Investigations Department (CID) former Director Shani Abeysekera has filed a Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, requesting an interim injunction preventing his arrest or detention again by the CID.

The former Director of the CID has sought an interim injunction restraining any attempt to arrest or detain him under a Detention Order in connection with a B report filed in the Kuliyapitiya Magistrate’s Court on charges including failure to properly investigate Mohamed Qasim Mohamed Saharan Hashim, who led the Easter Sunday terror attack on 21 April 2019.

In the petitions, Abeysekara has sought an interim order restraining President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from issuing a detention order as the Minister of Defence to arrest him under Section 9 (1) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

The petitioner also seeks an order quashing the B report No. 1411/2022 filed against him in connection with a fraudulent investigation report allegedly made on an anonymous petition.

Petitioner Abeysekara has requested the court to order his immediate release if he is arrested and to pay Rs. 100 million as compensation.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Meryl Ranjan Lamahewa at CID, Women Inspector Niroshani Pathirana, CID Director SSP Kavinda Piyasekara, the Minister of Public Security, the Secretary to the Ministry, the Attorney General and 14 others have been named as respondents.

The petitioner states that he served as the Director of the CID from 2017-2019, was subsequently suspended and has been unjustly imprisoned for a long time.

The petitioner says he was informed that Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security has received an anonymous petition on 26/12/2021 accusing him of being responsible for the terrorist attack on Easter Sunday and a B report was submitted to the Kuliyapitiya Magistrate’s Court on February 10 stating that an investigation had been carried out based on the anonymous petition.

The petitioner says the petition has alleged that Abeysekara, the then Director of the CID, did not properly instruct the investigation team, who visited the suicide bomber Zahran’s wife’s house.

Abeysekara in his petition told the court that the B report has been prepared by including arbitrary and unjustly false facts against him.

In this petition, Abeysekara has pointed out that he could be arrested at any time on the basis of that report, thereby violating his fundamental rights.

The former Director of the CID was probed after the Easter Attacks and had also produced his evidence before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry in regards to the terrorist attack.