-By Sunanda Deshapriya
(Lanka-e-News -2026.June.23, 6.30 PM) Currently, Senior Superintendent of Police Shani Abeysekara, Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), has become the number one enemy of the Rajapaksa clan and its henchmen. It should be noted that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has officially recommended his promotion to the rank of Deputy Inspector General (DIG).
In contrast, Major General Suresh Sallay, the former head of the State Intelligence Service who is currently in custody in connection with investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks and, has become the darling of the Rajapaksa loyalists.
Both men are senior figures within Sri Lanka’s intelligence and law enforcement apparatus.
The admiration for one man and hostility toward the other can be traced back to two key decisions made shortly after Gotabaya Rajapaksa took office as President on 18 November 2019. Furthermore, it is Sharni Abeysekara who is now leading the investigations into Rajapaksa-era corruption and the Easter Sunday attacks.
The first incident was the removal of Shani Abeysekara, then Director of the CID, from his position on November 21, 2019—just three days after Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president. His subsequent arrest followed. The hostility directed at him by the Rajapaksa clan today is therefore nothing new.
The second was the appointment of Brigadier Suresh Sallay as Director of the State Intelligence Service on December 21, 2019. At the time, Sallay was serving at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Malaysia. He had previously been appointed head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence when Gotabaya Rajapaksa was Defence Secretary, reflecting the close relationship between the two men.
The contrast between Rajapaksa’s confidence in Sallay and his hostility toward Shani Abeysekara is evident.
Leaving aside the Easter Sunday attacks and Sallay’s alleged role in them, the treatment faced by Shani Abeysekara under the Gotabaya-Sallay administration and the treatment now faced by Suresh Sallay tell two very different stories. Two different personalities.
Shani Abeysekara was once described by the Sri Lankan alternative media as the country’s “Sherlock Holmes.” Few, if any, police officers can match the number of major criminal investigations he completed.
On Sallay’s account, there is nothing to show any outstanding feats.
After being removed as Director of the CID and reassigned as Personal Assistant to the DIG of Galle, Shani did not publicly complain. In January 2020, he was suspended from service without a disciplinary inquiry. He responded by pursuing the available legal and administrative remedies. His wife did not weep on the streets.
Suresh Sallay was arrested on February 25, 2026, in connection with investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. His name has long been associated with allegations relating to the attacks. Because the Easter bombings are classified as acts of terrorism, he is being detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). (The writer does not endorse the PTA.) Sallay has challenged his arrest in court, which is his legal right.
On July 31, 2020, during the Gotabaya administration, the Colombo Crimes Division arrested Shani Abeysekara at his home, accusing him of fabricating evidence in a case involving former DIG Vass Gunawardena.
After a lengthy legal process, the court concluded that what was fabricated was the case against Shani. The judgment raised concerns that the prosecution may have been politically motivated and also noted that he had been denied proper medical treatment. Sharni fought for his innocence.
This is what Sally should be doing instead of weeping.
Illegal detention and false prosecution should always be challenged. Sharni challenged, and Vass Gunawardena is now serving a life sentence.
Sallay is currently the third suspect in a case related to the Easter attacks. AG department argues that there is enough evidence against him. What is required is that he be afforded a fair trial.
However, Sallay has gone beyond legal challenges. He launched what was described as a “fast unto death” in protest against his detention, declaring that he would continue fasting until he was released. He is now receiving treatment and food through tubes at the Colombo National Hospital. He has not refused treatments.
During Sallay’s tenure, lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah spent nearly two years in detention under the PTA. Sallay indirectly told the Presidential Commission investigating the Easter attacks that Hejaaz was the mastermind behind the bombings.
Now, through a statement issued by his son, Sallay is also calling for the repeal of the PTA. Until he himself was subjected to a 90-day detention order, neither Sallay nor his political patron Gotabaya Rajapaksa publicly regarded the PTA as problematic.
By contrast, Shani Abeysekara was detained at Mahara Prison with COVID -19 patients. He contracted the virus in late November 2020. Given his diabetes and heart condition, COVID-19 posed a serious threat to his life. Yet he did not receive the level of medical treatment that such a patient required, nor did he publicly weep.
Sallay’s mother and wife have spoken publicly about what they describe as the “torture” inflicted on him. They have appealed to religious leaders for his release on the grounds that he is unwell. They are on the street giving voice cuts to TV stations.
In support of Sallay’s hunger strike, politicians Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila launched their own symbolic fast, appearing with sorrowful faces. The protest ended shortly after news emerged that victims of the Easter attacks intended to visit the site.
On the contrary, support for Shani Abeysekara came largely through social media campaigns. These were framed not as pleas for sympathy, but as challenges to injustice.
While critically ill with COVID-19, Shani was transferred from Mahara Prison to the Polonnaruwa COVID Treatment Centre. During the journey, he reportedly suffered a heart attack. Rather than being taken directly to the Colombo National Hospital, he was admitted to Welikanda Hospital. As his condition deteriorated, he eventually underwent emergency heart surgery at the Colombo National Hospital in February 2021.
Despite his serious medical condition, he was repeatedly transferred between Mahara, Welikanda, Welikada and IDH detention facilities. His wife, mother, and children did not stage public protests or weep on the streets.
Instead, Shani Abeysekara filed legal action challenging both his arrest and the case against him. One lawsuit sought compensation of Rs. 1 billion. He also successfully challenged the denial of his promotion.
Sallay’s family has complained that prison authorities conducted a body search and checked his anus. That is where prisoners hide contraband. Undressing to check inmates has long been a standard security procedure in Sri Lankan prisons. It happens in many other countries as well. Fifty-four years ago, the writer underwent a similar search at Welikada and Magazine prisons, as did Rohana Wijeweera. If nothing is concealed, there is little reason for controversy over the procedure.
Shani did not seek special treatment while in custody. The conditions under which he was held were the same as those faced by other prisoners. Prisons, after all, are not five-star hotels.
Another complaint raised on Sallay’s behalf concerns rats in his CID detention cell. Yet this is a longstanding problem affecting not only detainees but also CID officers themselves. Giant rats are reportedly a common sight throughout the building. The poor conditions reflect years of neglect by successive governments. Those detained during the Gotabaya-Sallay era endured the same environment. What Sallay is now experiencing is the curse of destiny.
Questions have also been raised regarding a computer allegedly belonging to Sallay.
Political figures such as Dayasiri Jayasekara and Wimal Weerawansa have claimed that the device contains highly sensitive military and wartime secrets. If that is true, the writer argues, the computer should properly belong to the state.
However, General Sarath Fonseka has publicly stated that Sallay made no significant contribution to the war effort. If so, and if the computer indeed contains wartime secrets, that would warrant a separate investigation.
Operational records, intelligence sources, internal correspondence and classified documents are not personal possessions that officials can take with them when they leave office. They are assets of the state. Far from undermining the case for investigation, Jayasekara’s complaint highlights exactly why independent scrutiny is required.
Sallay has reportedly refused to provide the password not only to the computer but also to his mobile phone, claiming that he has forgotten it. Is that because the phone, too, contains military secrets?
There was no question of Sharni’s laptop or mobile phone when he was arrested.
During the Gotabaya–Sallay era, ordinary citizens were hardly in a position to tell investigators they had forgotten their passwords. Had any of us done so, we might have disappeared along with the passwords.
If a person is innocent, there is little reason to lock investigators out of computers and mobile phones indefinitely. Former State Intelligence Service Director DIG Nilantha Jayawardena, who was responsible for handling evidence related to the Easter attacks, factory-reset his mobile phone, erasing digital evidence in the process. SJB leader Lakshman Kiriella argued at the time that Jayawardena should be jailed for it. Today, Dayasiri Jayasekara is part of the same political camp—but appears willing to accept Major General Sallay's convenient bout of password amnesia.
Two men. Two senior intelligence officials. Two very different stories.
Judgement is yours.
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by (2026-06-23 12:55:00)
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