Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has appointed a three-member investigation panel to probe the alleged incident involving top order batter Danushka Gunathilaka.
The committee consists of Justice Sisira Ratnayake (Retired High Court Judge) and Attorneys-at-Law Niroshana Perera and Asela Rekawa.
According to a statement issued by national cricket board, the committee will also focus the inquiry on various alleged incidents that have come to the attention of Sri Lanka Cricket and that are said to have allegedly taken place during the national team’s stay in Australia.
The panel in this process will call for an immediate explanation from the Team Manager pertaining to his conduct, with references to the occurrence of such incidents.
Upon submission of the said report by the panel, the Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket will take stern disciplinary action against the players and or officials if proved any wrongdoing or negligence when carrying out official duties.
Gunathilaka was arrested by the Sydney Police Department on the allegations of sexual assault made by a woman.
He travelled to Australia for the ICC T20 World Cup but was ruled out of the tournament after he injured his hamstring. He remained with the team despite being officially replaced by Ashen Bandara.
Gunathilaka was arrested in Sydney on Sunday morning (Nov. 06) just hours after Sri Lanka lost a Super 12 stage match against England.
Following his arrest, the Sri Lanka team left for Colombo without Gunathilaka after being eliminated from the T20 World Cup.
When was presented in front of the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney yesterday (Nov. 07), the cricketer had sought bail in the case.
The bail application submitted by Gunathilaka, who faces four counts of rape, was heard in closed court. Magistrate Robert Williams refused bail and the case was adjourned to January 12, a period of nine-and-a-half weeks.
Gunathilaka was subsequently moved to Silverwater Prison in Sydney.
Meanwhile, the Executive Committee of SLC yesterday decided to suspend Gunathilaka from all forms of cricket with immediate effect.
The left-handed batter has played more than 100 international matches for Sri Lanka including their opening match of the 2022 T20 World Cup against Namibia that they lost.
