CID questions Colonel Mahendra Fernando

Colonel Mahendra Fernando, who was the head of the commando unit of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department over the incident at the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Hambantota district meeting.

This came after the authorities arrested a Corporal of the Sri Lanka Army for allegedly bringing a firearm to the district meeting, which was attended by President Maithripala Sirisena on April 25. Fernando has been summoned to record a statement in this regard, the police said.

The army corporal had attended the function with MP Namal Rajapaksa.

“A good soldier who has done nothing wrong has been arrested in a thinly veiled attempt to implicate my son in what is being portrayed now as a plot against the president. Questions have been raised as to why a member of my security contingent had accompanied Namal,” former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said issuing a statement.