(MENAFN- Colombo Gazette) Attorney General (AG) Dappula de Livera has directed acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) C. D. Wickremeratne to conduct investigations on the conduct of the Head Quarter Inspector (HQI) of Negombo and on a statement made by Police spokesman SSP Jaliya Senaratne.
Coordinating Officer to the AG State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne said the directive was issued after CCTV footage was received on the HQI of Negombo''s execution of the warrant issued against Negombo Prison Superintendent Anuruddha Sampayo .
The CCTV footage shows the brother of Sampayo following the Police Jeep in a van, Sampayo later arriving in his vehicle and being greeted in a friendly manner by the HQI of Negombo, who is later seen answering a phone call on Sampayo''s phone.
AG Dappula de Livera had told the Acting IGP that the actions of the HQI of Negombo prove that it is not of addressing a suspect against whom an arrest warrant has been issued, but a friendly gesture, she said.
The CCTV footage further showed that a group of persons who had arrived in two separate vehicles were allowed to freely converse with Sampayo who was seated on the passenger seat in the Police Jeep and were waiting for the arrival of another individual.
The footage reveals that Sampayo was waiting for the arrival of a journalist from a prominent media channel and the HQI of Negombo had facilitated the recording of a voice cut from Sampayo via the journalists mobile phone.
Nishara Jayaratne said that the AG had called for an investigation to be conducted into the actions of the HQI of Negombo for providing special treatment for Sampayo who was arrested eleven days after a warrant was issued against him.
The CCTV footage has proved that Sampayo was not arrested during a special operation as claimed by the HQI of Negombo, following which the AG had ordered the Acting IGP to conduct a special investigation into the false statement provided by the HQI of Negombo in this regard.
The AG had also instructed the acting IGP to investigate the statement made by Police Media Spokesman SSP Jaliya Senaratne to the media based on the wrongful information.
The Police Spokesman is said to have stated that Sampayo was arrested during a special intelligence operation, Nishara Jayaratne added.
In July, Attorney General (AG) Dappula de Livera had directed the Director of the Criminal Investigations Department to obtain warrants and arrest four officials from the Negombo prison, including the interdicted Superintendent of Police (SP) Anurudha Sampayo.
Sampayo was arrested on 04 August in Kurunegala after reportedly evading arrest since the issuing of a warrant.
The warrants were issued over an ongoing investigation into allegations of mobile phones and other items being provided to inmates of the prison. (Colombo Gazette)
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