21 June, 2020
The latest case where a Sri Lankan sportsman, rugby fly half Tharinda Ratwatte, got entangled with the Law or entered Police records has only added to a list of celebrities messing up their public images.
Celebrity watchers say the conduct of sportsmen of the past and present who are been viewed as role models is sending the wrong signals to the younger generation that can be detrimental to Society.
Below is a dossier of some of them and their misdeeds though several more have got away by being, as the saying goes, “shaped up” since the start of the new millennium.
- 2020: Tharinda Ratwatte: Sri Lanka rugby fly half drives vehicle that crashed into a policeman on a motorcycle who succumbs to his injuries.
- 2020: Shehan Madushanka: Sri Lanka cricketer produced in court for the possession of heroin
- 2019: Dimuth Karunaratne: Sri Lanka cricket captain appears in court charged with drink-driving and steering his vehicle that crashed into an auto rickshaw causing injuries to its driver.
- 2018: Dhanushka Gunathilaka: Sri Lanka cricketer banned for six ODIs having breached the Players’ Conduct Code after Police questioned him over a complaint made by a Norwegian woman who alleged he was present while she was raped in the hotel where the team put up during a home series against South Africa.
- 2016: Nuwan Kulasekera: Sri Lanka cricketer bailed out after being taken into Police custody following the death of a motorcyclist who lost control of his bike and crashed into his car while travelling in the opposite direction
- 2014: Charith Kodagoda: Rugby player and referee remanded for being in possession of marijuana
- 2012: Jehan Mubarak: Sri Lanka cricketer taken into Police custody and produced in court after driving his jeep into a motorcyclist who succumbed to his injuries
- 2003: Kaushal Lokuarachchie: Sri Lanka cricketer drives car that fatally injures a woman waiting to board a bus while her son sustained serious injuries.
- 2001: Arjuna Ranatunga: Former Sri Lanka cricket captain investigated by police and reaches an out-of-court settlement over an incident where schoolboys from Asoka College in Maradana playing street cricket were assaulted after they entered his family home premises to retrieve cricket balls.