The recent Supreme Court interim order preventing the arrest of former Inspector General of Police, Jayantha Wickramaratne by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) will not hamper the investigations being conducted in relation to the assassination of the Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, the CID said.
When contacted by the Sunday Observer, a highly placed source in the CID said investigations into the assassination will continue regardless. “We are following several leads and are gathering more evidence as we speak,” he said, adding that the CID never announced that the former IGP was to be arrested.
“He himself, perhaps out of fear, moved the court prematurely to obtain an interim order to prevent his arrest,” he said, adding that, however, it has no negative impact on the ongoing investigation.
Retired SSP Hemantha Adhikari, the then SP of the Mount Lavinia Division, who is accused of concealing evidence in the case, gave a closed-door lengthy statement to Mt. Lavinia Chief Magistrate Mohamed Mihail last week and is said to have implicated IGP Wickramaratne. According to sources having studied the B-reports filed by the CID, Wickramaratne had claimed his arrest could be deemed illegal when seeking the interim order preventing his arrest.