By Ruwan Weerakoon
(Lanka-e-News -21 Oct 2026,9.30 P.M.)We Are Gone, But They Are Still Out There": Convicts' Courtroom Outburst Sends CID Hunting Beyond the Sallay Case. Three men convicted of the Easter Sunday massacre told a courtroom that others were still free. The CID now says it is acting on that claim.
Additional Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris told the Fort Magistrate's Court that the CID has opened several special investigations alongside its main inquiry. In that inquiry, former State Intelligence Service chief Suresh Sallay and two others are suspects. When the three-judge High Court trial-at-bar sentenced Milhan, Riskan and Zainul Abdeen, they said, in open court and apparently without fear, that though they had gone to prison, those connected to the attacks remained outside.
Peiris asked for permission to send eight investigators into the prison to record fresh statements from the three between October 22 and November 8. Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena granted the request.
The widening inquiry has reached political figures. The CID has already recorded statements from former Minister Douglas Devananda and from Sangar, an EPDP political activist.
According to the CID, Hanzeer Azad Maulana, regarded as the investigation's main witness, was introduced to the Karuna and Pillayan factions by Devananda. Peiris told the court that Devananda denied this and withheld information when giving his statement. The CID, he said, is considering what action to take against him.
A separate special investigation concerns the issuing of a diplomatic passport to Karuna Amman. The court also secured the order needed to obtain the relevant documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The court also dealt with a motion filed by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa through attorney Sanath Wijewardena. Rajapaksa is not a suspect in the case. He asked for his overseas travel ban to be relaxed so that he could attend medical examinations after heart surgery at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
The Magistrate noted that the Registrar had rejected the motion because it carried no date. Peiris said he had received a copy. If the request is properly submitted, he said, he is prepared to consider it sympathetically on humanitarian grounds.
At the close of the hearing, the Magistrate asked about progress in the investigations concerning Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Peiris replied that, in his view, Rajapaksa is an influential figure in relation to the case. He added that the CID will act on the evidence it finds.
Attorney Swastika Arulingam asked the court to release the first suspect. The Magistrate said he had already ruled on the matter and that the proper route was a revision application in the High Court.
The case returns to court on November 25. By then, the prison interviews will be complete, and the CID will have to show whether the convicts' statements point to new suspects or only to old ones.
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by (2026-10-21 16:05:04)
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