The Police Media Division said in a statement issued today (18) that the initial investigation revealed that the police had neglected their duties in the accident involving MP Ashoka Ranwala. Accordingly, the IGP has reportedly instructed to take strict disciplinary action against the relevant officers.
The jeep driven by National People’s Power MP Ashoka Ranwala collided with another car and a motorcycle in the Sapugaskanda area on the night of December 11, injuring three people, including a small child.
The MP, who was arrested and produced in court in connection with the accident, was later released on bail.
However, social media and mainstream media are strongly criticizing the delays in law enforcement, including the delay in checking whether he was drunk at the time of the accident.
Accordingly, Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Traffic Control and Road Safety, W.P.J. Senadheera, has conducted an investigation on the orders of the IGP to find out whether the Sapugaskanda Police officers had carried out their duties properly and the report has now been handed over to the IGP.
The relevant investigation has revealed that the accident occurred at around 7.25 pm on the 11th and that a sergeant of the Sapugaskanda Police had gone to the relevant location 25 minutes later, i.e. at around 7.50 pm.
Thereafter, the OIC of the Sapugaskanda Police and the OIC of the Traffic Division had arrived at the location at around 8.00 pm.
The child and the two women who were injured in the collision between MP Ranwala and his car were not at the location by then. The police report also states that the Sapugaskanda Police Sergeant who went to the scene of the accident at around 9.30 pm that night had gone to the Kiribathgoda Hospital.
When he inquired about the accident from a security officer near the gate, he had said that the group admitted to the hospital had been transferred to the Colombo National Hospital for further treatment. The investigation revealed that the relevant Sergeant had not inquired about it from any official at the hospital or personally examined it.
However, Ranwala was at the Kiribathgoda Hospital at that time and had left the hospital at around 10.35 pm. Later, when Ashoka Ranwala tried to get admitted to the Colombo National Hospital for treatment, he was severely criticized by the relatives of the group he had injured.
The relevant report also states that the police were unable to provide the breathalyzer used to test the MP for alcohol due to his hospitalization.
However, the Sapugaskanda Police did not provide the forensic medical form used by the police in such cases at the Kiribathgoda Hospital.
It was provided to him by the Colombo National Hospital Hospital Police the day after the accident.
It is reported that his blood and urine samples were taken thereafter.
It has also been revealed during the relevant investigation that the OIC of the Sapugaskanda Police or the OIC of the Traffic Division did not go to Kiribathgoda or the Colombo National Hospital for investigations in the context of such a controversial accident.
It is also reported that the next day, MP Ranwala was arrested during the investigation conducted with the direct intervention of the IGP.
The report submitted to the IGP states that the Sapugaskanda Police should have taken action to arrest MP Ranwala after the accident, given the allegations made by various groups that he had consumed alcohol and the fact that three people he had injured were hospitalized.
During the relevant investigation, it was observed that the Sapugaskanda Police OIC, the OIC of the Traffic Division who investigated the accident, the Senior Police Superintendent supervising the Sapugaskanda Police Station and the district officers had committed dereliction of duty.
Accordingly, the IGP has instructed the Police Special Investigation Unit to initiate a preliminary investigation against the relevant officers and take strict disciplinary action, the Police Media Spokesperson’s Division says.