Sri Lanka’s biggest ever criminal investigation into the Easter Sunday Bombings of 2019 that killed 279 people, has ended with the conviction of 14 of 24 persons. They were found guilty on 900 counts including murder and conspiracy to commit terrorism. Their jail sentences will run for 200 to 260 years!
Media reports say the convictions followed investigations not only by Sri Lankan police and intelligence agencies, but also help from the Tamil Nadu police. The Indians apparently had information about a dry run that was planned before the actual bombings and it was passed onto the Sri Lankans thrRough RAW.
But Indian warnings about a major terror attack apparently fell on deaf ears, which has fuelled widespread suspicions in Colombo about a political conspiracy behind the blasts. A report in The Hindu said Suresh Sallay, head of military intelligence and close to then president Gotabaya Rajapakse, was arrested earlier this year and charged with colluding with the bombers.
The conspiracy theory gained more traction when, in July this year, Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara, and Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, who oversaw the police, were tried and sentenced to death for dereliction of duty.
The government of Prime Minister Anura Dissayanake claimed a “conspiracy by a group to achieve a narrow political objective by creating discord between ethnicities, causing communal riots, and massive loss of life and property”.
The president has promised “legal action against those who failed to prevent the Easter attack despite receiving sufficient information about it” as well as against “those who interfered with the investigation… to protect the real conspirators of the crime”.
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