COLOMBO, July 20: A deputy inspector general of police in Sri Lanka has been sacked from the service following a disciplinary inquiry related to the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks.
Nilantha Jayawardena, who previously served as the head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS), was placed on compulsory leave by the National Police Commission (NPC) in July 2024, pending an internal investigation.
Following the conclusion of the inquiry, the NPC decided to dismiss Jayawardena from service.
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“It was decided at the meeting of the police commission held on July 17 to order the immediate dismissal from police service of the senior deputy inspector general of police, Nilantha Jayawardena,” the NCP said in a statement.
About 270 people, including 11 Indians, were killed as suicide bombers belonging to the local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat, linked to ISIS, carried out a series of blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday in 2019.
On March 21, 2024, the police commission decided to conduct a disciplinary inquiry against Jayawardena for his negligence of duty, which led to the Easter Sunday attack.
The report of the disciplinary investigation was received by the police commission two weeks ago.
The commission ruled that Jayawardena was guilty of all the counts in the chargesheet served on him.
Jayawardena becomes the most senior police officer to be found guilty of dereliction of duty.
He was ordered to pay a 75 million rupee fine as compensation to the victims.
The Supreme Court in 2023 ruled that former President Maithripala Sirisena, former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, former National Intelligence Chief Sisira Mendis and former SIS Chief Jayawardena had violated the Fundamental Rights of the petitioners by failing to act on prior intelligence that could have prevented the attacks.
The then president Sirisena was ordered to pay 100 million to the relatives of the victims.
The attack became a political issue in the country, with the then rulers, the Rajapaksa family, being accused of using the attack to regain power.
The Catholic church, unimpressed by the police investigations, called for international investigations to bring justice to the families of victims. (PTI)
