Colombo: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Sri Lanka arrested former defence secretary Hemasiri Fernando and ex-police chief Pujith Jayasundera for their alleged failure to prevent attacks on churches and luxury hotels that killed more than 250 people in April.
Attorney General Dappula de Livera ordered their arrest on July 1 and urged the acting police chief to bring charges against the two, including for grave crimes against humanity. “The two officials should be brought before a magistrate for their criminal negligence to prevent the April 21 attacks,” the attorney general said in a letter to the acting police.
During the time of arrest, the duo was undergoing treatment at different hospitals. Fernando was arrested from the Colombo National Hospital while Jayasundara was taken into custody from the Police Hospital.
Earlier, President Maithripala Sirisena had suspended Jayasundera and Fernando for their alleged inaction on the information shared by India, which warned of an attack by Islamic militants and thereby failing to prevent the attack which resulted in an Easter terror attack on April 21, 2019. However, they deny all allegations against them. On April 21 serial attacks, over 250 people were killed in eight suicide attack carried by National Thowheed Jammath (NTJ), local Jihadi group, linked to ISIS. The serial attacks were one of the deadliest attacks in the recent history of Lanka.
