Three Homagama Police officers suspended over suspect’s death in custody

Daily Mirror, Newswire, Newsfirst, Sri Lanka Mirror, Ada Derana and Hiru News report that the headquarters inspector of Homagama Police Station was suspended after a suspect died in police custody. Daily Mirror identifies the inspector as M.R.S. Prajan Senanayake, and Newswire says the suspension took effect on October 28 on the order of the Inspector General of Police.

Newswire reports that the suspect had been arrested by Homagama Police on October 25 over alleged possession of 490 milligrams of ICE and later died in custody. WhatNews identifies him as a 29-year-old man and says he died while held in a station cell. Newswire attributes the suspension to alleged failures to monitor the suspect, instruct investigating officers and maintain accurate arrest records; it also reports failures of supervision that allowed two people to be unlawfully detained at the station. Lankadeepa reports that the senior inspector was faulted for not conveying information about the incident before a Western Province senior deputy inspector general made inquiries.

Newswire reports that three other officers, including the Crimes Division officer-in-charge, were suspended from October 26. Newswire and Newsfirst report that the Crimes Division OIC was arrested on October 28 in connection with the death; Newswire says he was scheduled to appear in court the following day. Sri Lanka Mirror reports that a magistrate directed the Colombo South Crimes Division to speed up the investigation, arrest suspects and bring them before court, after relatives and civil society groups sought such an order.

Sri Lanka Mirror reports that the man’s funeral was scheduled for October 29 at Galkanda Public Cemetery in Kiriwanthuduwa. It says the Kesbewa District Court issued a 14-day order on October 28, at Kahathuduwa Police’s request, barring protests or processions along the route from Moonamale Watta’s 17th Lane to the cemetery if they could disrupt traffic, inconvenience the public or damage property.