Indian national had no say in President’s assassination drama

OCT 04 2018

In a sudden turn of events Police clarified that the Indian national alleged to have been a part of the assassination plot to kill President Maithripala Sirisena and several other high ranking citizens had not revealed such information to the Authorities.

Mercil Thomas was arrested by the CID on 21 September, according to the Police Media Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara. The suspect was arrested based on a complaint lodged by the Anti Corruption Movement’s Director Operations Namal Kumara. Kumara had noted in his complaint that the Indian national had behaved in a suspicious manner on many occasions when he visited Kumara’s residence.

Thomas had arrived in the country on January, 2017 and had resided in several parts of the country. The CID is further investigating his source of income as he has not revealed this information to the authorities.

“This individual had not under any circumstances revealed information pertaining to a latent assassination attempt on the high ranking individuals of the country. The suspect however has revealed to the authorities that he had visited Kumara because he had sensed a threat to several individuals, following Kumara’s disclosure of the conspiracy to the Media. The suspect had told CID officers that he visited Kumara’s residence to inquire about these threats,” SP Gunasekara added.

The CID in its B-report filed in the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on 25 September had not mentioned anything about an assassination plot revealed by the Indian national.