A Senior Assistant Secretary attached to the Parliamentary and Cabinet Affairs Division of the Presidential Secretariat, arrested by the Central Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) in connection with an investigation into the alleged preparation of a forged passport for an organised criminal, has been remanded today (27). 

He was produced before the Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court today and ordered to be remanded until June 30. 

The arrest is linked to an investigation involving notorious criminal ‘Karandeniye Raju’, who is currently being interrogated by the CCIB. Police suspect that a forged passport under the name of another individual was prepared to facilitate his travel abroad.

‘Karandeniye Raju’, the brother of underworld figure ‘Karandeniye Sudda’, was recently deported from Dubai and brought back to Sri Lanka.

Accordingly, the suspect is currently being detained at the CCIB for further investigations, and the investigation officers have also focused on the matter of issuing a passport under the name of another person to travel abroad.

Investigators probing the case discovered that the passport in question had allegedly been prepared in 2023 by an individual then serving as the Deputy Controller of the Foreign Missions Division of the Department of Immigration and Emigration.

Further inquiries revealed that the same individual is currently employed as a Senior Assistant Secretary in the Parliamentary and Cabinet Affairs Division of the Presidential Secretariat.

Accordingly, the 41-year-old suspect, a resident of Kandy, was arrested yesterday (26) by the Homicide and Organized Crime Investigation Division of the CCIB.

Subsequently, he was produced before the Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court this morning (27).

Further investigations are being conducted under the supervision of Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Ranmal Kodithuwakku, DIG Chandana Kodithuwakku, and CCIB Director Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kamal Ariyawansa.