Seven police officers, including a Sub-inspector, attached to the Kandaketiya Police Station have been arrested over the death of a suspect and were subsequently remanded by court today.
On May 07 five suspects were arrested by Kandaketiya Police on charges of engaging in illegal excavations in search of buried treasure in the Ketawatta reserve area.
A Sub-inspector, 4 police constables, a civil security assistant and a member of the Civil Defence Force were involved in the operation, acting on a tip-off.
The suspects were remanded on May 8, however one of them died in prison the following day due to injuries, police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said.
The magistrate’s inquiry and postmortem examination was carried out yesterday while it was suspects that the deceased, 18-year-old Sandun Malinga, had been assaulted by the officers involved in the raid.
The seven officers were arrested by police yesterday on suspicion and produced at the Badulla Magistrate’s Court today (11).
They were remanded until May 23 while an identification parade on the incident is to be held on May 16, Rohana said.
