The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has informed the Attorney General’s Department that former Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Deputy Minister Premalal Jayasekara had already left for Thailand before the Supreme Court imposed an overseas travel ban on him last Friday.
Investigators found that Jayasekara, widely known as “Choka Malli”, departed Sri Lanka on 31 August, days before authorities moved to enforce the travel restriction.
The travel ban relates to a Supreme Court order last Friday directing Jayasekara and two other men to appear before court on 21 October, in connection with an appeal challenging their acquittal over the 2015 murder of Shantha Dodangoda, also known as D.G. Sunil Perera.
The appeal was filed by Dodangoda’s wife against a Court of Appeal decision that had acquitted and released Jayasekara, former Kahawatta Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Wajira Darshana de Silva, and former Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council member Nilanta Jayakody, all three of whom had earlier been convicted and sentenced to death by the Ratnapura High Court.
Dodangoda was shot dead in Kahawatta town in the early hours of 5 January 2015, while a group of people were putting up decorations for an election rally in support of then common opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena.
Two others, Karunadasa Weerasinghe and Mohamed Ilfan, were seriously injured in the same shooting.
The case was taken up before a Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justices Achala Wengappuli and Gihan Kulatunga, during which Deputy Solicitor General Janaka Bandara requested that overseas travel restrictions be imposed on Jayasekara and the other respondents, a request the court subsequently granted.
President’s Counsel Nalin Ladduwahetty, President’s Counsel U.R. de Silva and President’s Counsel Anuja Premaratne appeared for the respondents, while President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris represented the aggrieved party.
Police sources said the revelation that Jayasekara had already left for Thailand before the ban was enforced has raised concerns over the timing and effectiveness of the court order, with the CID now taking further action following its disclosure to the Attorney General’s Department.
