The writ application filed by MP Rishad Bathiudeen, seeking the Court of Appeal for an order preventing his arrest, has been fixed for support on the 20th of October.
Two-judge bench of the Court of Appeal, comprising Justices Kumudini Wickramasinghe and Sobhitha Rajakaruna, will be taking up the writ application, which was filed yesterday (15).
Acting Inspector General of Police C.D. Wickramaratne, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) S.P. Ranasinghe, Sub Inspector Gamini and four others have been named as the respondents of this writ application.
Then-Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen, the director of the project Mohamed Yaseen Samsudeen and the project accountant Alagarathnam Manoranjan are accused of violating Article 82(1) of Presidential Elections Act, No. 15 of 1981 by misappropriating public funds to the tune of Rs. 9.5 million.
They have allegedly misused 222 buses belonging to the state-owned Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) for transporting IDPs from Puttalam to polling stations in Silavathurai, Mannar during the 2019 Presidential Election.
The CID, upon the direction of the Attorney General, had sought the Colombo Fort Magistrate to issue a warrant to arrest MP Rishad Bathiudeen and the other two suspects on charges of criminal misappropriation of public funds and violation of election laws.
However, the magistrate ruled that the Police can proceed to arrest the suspects without a warrant.
Thereby, Attorney General Dappula de Livera directed the Police to arrest the three suspects according to the law.
Alagarathnam Manoranjan was taken into custody by the CID on Tuesday (13) in the area of Kirulapone. He was remanded until the October 26 after being produced before the Fort Magistrate’s Court.
In the meantime, a constable attached to MP Bathiudeen’s security detail was also taken into custody the following day, for allegedly aiding the parliamentarian to evade the arrest. He was apprehended in Wellawatte area, along with two cars and two firearms.
On October 14, the Fort Magistrate issued a travel ban on MP Bathiudeen upon a request by the CID.
