Former Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne has filed an anticipatory bail application before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court seeking the prevention of his arrest over “white van” media briefing.

The Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and several other officials have been named as the respondents of this bail application.

The parliamentarian claims that the CID is preparing to arrest him over the said media briefing. Hence, he requested the court to release him on anticipatory bail before he is taken into custody by the CID.
 

On the 10th of November this year, Senaratne had called two persons named Anthony Douglas Fernando and Athula Sanjeewa Madanayake for the said press conference, where the duo made controversial statements and allegations regarding “white vans” and purported incidents of certain abductions, assassinations, robberies and forced disappearances during the administration of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

One of them had claimed that he was a “white van” driver involved in abducting people while the other claimed he once served as a driver to transport a stock of gold in previously LTTE-held areas.

On December 02, the CID presented a submission to the Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne regarding the said media briefing. Considering a request made by the CID, the chief magistrate had ordered several media institutions to submit the unedited video footage from this press conference to the investigators for onward probes.

The investigations in this regard were launched after a complaint was lodged by an individual named Kumudu Pradeep Sanjeewa Perera.

The CID later arrested the two individuals in question and detained them for 72 hours for onward interrogations.

The duo was subsequently produced before Colombo Chief Magistrate, who delivered an order to remand them until December 27.