Easter Sunday probe: Cardinal wanted NPP to bring back Shani and Ravi - Leader of the House

Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake has disclosed in Parliament that two retired police officers, Senior DIG Ravi Seneviratne and SSP Shani Abeysekera, had been brought back to oversee investigations into the Easter Sunday carnage at the request of Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and the Catholic Church.

- BY SHAMINDRA FERDINANDO

Rathnayake said the two officers had been victimised by previous administrations.

Rathnayake said so during an adjournment debate on the progress in the Easter Sunday investigations on Wednesday (9).

With the approval of the National Police Commission (NPC), the police headquarters had brought back Abeysekera as Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Abeysekera retired in June 2021 but the NPP took him back on contractual basis and then extended the contract before accommodating him as the CID Director.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake last year appointed former Senior Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ravi Seneviratne as the Public Security Ministry Secretary.

Minister Rathnayake alleged in Parliament that Seneviratne and Abeysekera had been targeted by the Rajapaksasas as they felt that some high-profile investigations such as the killing of Mohammed Wasim Thajudeen in May 2012 threatened them.