Indian national on Lanka assassination plot further remanded in custody

Press Trust of India  |  Colombo 

An Indian national arrested for possible links to an alleged plot to assassinate Sri Lankan was on Wednesday further remanded in custody until February 27.

was arrested in October following a complaint by Namal Kumara, a police informant, who had alleged a plot to assassinate and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the former top defence ministry bureaucrat and brother of ex-

Kumara also claimed that the senior in charge of the police's counter terrorism division Nalaka Silva had masterminded the plot. Silva has since been interdicted and questioned extensively by the police CID.

The police maintained although no details had emerged on the alleged plot to kill Sirisena, Silva had been arrested for plotting the murder of a

Thomas, said to be from Kerala, appeared before a court on Wednesday.

in late October sacked triggering an unprecedented constitutional crisis which lasted nearly two months. The alleged assassination plot and Wickremesinghe government's go slow on the investigation was cited by Sirisena as one of the reasons for his sacking of Wickremesinghe.

He appointed former strongman in Wickremesinghe's place.

Later, Sirisena was forced to reappoint Wickremesinghe as the after Rajapaksa failed to prove his majority twice in Parliament.

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First Published: Wed, February 13 2019. 20:45 IST