Testifying before the Parliament Select Committee (PSC) last week CID Director SSP Shani Abeysekera called upon the authorities to create an environment where investigating officers could conduct investigations without any hindrance.
SSP Abeysekera said ‘whatever that could happen’ has happened but investigating officials in future should not go through the same ordeal.
The CID Director claimed that he has been verbally attacked in Parliament and outside by political leaders, the media and Maha Sangha. He said it came to a level where he was accused of sending his children abroad using ‘Diaspora money’. “My children have not even stepped into a land where there is an airport,” SSP Abeysekara stressed adding that because of such accusations his children could not even step out of their house.
There were instances where investigating officers were called to give evidence during a court hearing, and this has exposed them to verbal and online attacks by many.
“We have conducted a series of investigations regarding the military, but none of them were requested by me. They were all regarding activities conducted (by the accused) that goes against the law of the country,” SSP Abeysekara said explaining that the activities they investigated did not take place during the war.
“We have not probed into war crimes. We conduct investigations when we get complaints when an activity goes against the Penal Code. I am being paid a salary or given facilities to do my job,” he added.
CID Director Shani Abeysekara and several other officials have been instrumental in carrying out investigations into the murder of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, ruggerite Wasim Thajudeen, assaulting of Keith Noyahr and the disappearance of eleven Tamil youth where investigations revealed military involvement.