Riyaj Bathiudeen, brother of MP Rishad Bathiudeen, says that allegations made against his release from the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) are false and baseless.
Riyaj Bathiudeen, who was detained over alleged connections to the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks, was released on September 29.
However, several parties objected to the release and demanded that Bathiudeen be detained again.
Addressing the President, he says that the allegations against him had been thoroughly investigated by the CID and were found to be without any basis.
Riyaj Bathiudeen claims that the CID made the decision to release him due to lack of clear evidence and cited a similar verdict issued by the Magistrate on a previous occasion.
According to the verdict, the persons held in custody pending investigations could be released by the CID on the CID being satisfied that there was no evidence to warrant their continued detention.
Claiming that the demands for his re-arrest have been orchestrated due to political and communal reasons he concluded affirming his confidence that the President would not be influenced by such extraneous considerations.
The full letter submitted by Riyaj Bathiudeen:
“Your Excellency, In view of the campaign orchestrated by interested parties portraying me as a terrorist and in order to secure toy re-arrest without any justification whatsoever. I am compelled to bring to Your Excellency’s notice that the allegations made against me of complicity in any unlawful acts have been thoroughly investigated by the CID and found to be without any basis whatsoever. I am confident that Your Excellency would not be influenced by such false allegations made by interested parties both within the Government and the Opposition in order to gain unfair political advantage and advance racist sentiments.
I am a brother of Hon. Rishad Bathiudeen M.P, Former Minister of Industry and Commerce. As Your Excellency would no doubt be aware, I was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on 14th of April 2020 at my residence in Puttalam on an allegation that I had engaged in telephone conversations with Inshaf Ahamed. I was thereafter held in detention and intense investigations were carried out by the CID fete period of nearly One and a half months. The CID, in the course of an extensive and in-depth investigation searched my residence in Colombo, the house belonging to my wife’s parents in Puttalam, my friends’ houses in several other are., and my ancestral home in Mannar. They also minutely examined my bank accounts and my business transactions. My handphone and laptop computer were taken over by the CID and thoroughly examined. My telephone conversations both private and business were also thoroughly investigated and the CID concluded that there in no material whatsoever to link me to any terrorist activity. It was established that my acquaintanceship with Inshaf Ahamed was perfectly consistent with my innocence in as much as his father Mohamed Ibrahim was, at the material time, a leading businessman and the President of the Colombo Traders Association. Likewise, my acquaintanceship with Inshaf Ahamed was also natural and explainable as he was married to a daughter of S.K.P. Alawdeen, a prominent businessman from Mannar from where I also hail. After being thoroughly satisfied of my innocence, the CID released me from custody on 29.09.2020. There is nothing sinister, as is suggested by interested parties in the fact that the CID released me from custody without producing me before the Magistrate. Indeed the learned Magistrate had previously made an order that the persons held in custody pending investigations could be released by the CID on the CID being satisfied that there was no evidence to warrant their continued detention. A copy of the said ruling of the learned Magistrate is annexed herewith marked X for Your Excellency’s perusal.
However, certain persons with vested interests both of a political and racist nature have endeavored to portray the conduct of the CID as suspicious and to vilify me as a terrorist without any basis whatsoever. Moreover Coats made to understand that several members of the Parliament with similar motives, have addressed a letter to Your Excellency unfairly challenging the conduct of the CID and calling for my re-arrest.
In this context, I also wish to bring to the notice of Your Excellency that four of the seven persons who were arrested on the same date as myself on similar allegation, were released well before my release on the footing that there was no incriminating evidence against them. Of these persons, Mr. Mubeen and Mr. Amanullah were released without any intervention by the Court and solely by the CID as envisaged in the order of the learned magistrate which is annexed herewith. I wish to humbly submit that the demands for my re-arrest have been orchestrated due to political and communal reasons. I am confident that Your Excellency would not be influenced by such extraneous considerations.
Thanking you, Yours faithfully,
Baleen Mohamed Riyaj”
