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Ranathunga
‘bowled’ by STF personnel
By Sarashi Samarasinghe and Rathindra Kuruwita
A group of Special Task Force (STF) personnel,
allegedly under the influence of liquor, have verbally abused
Colombo District Parliamentarian Arjuna Ranathunga, a source
close to the MP told The Bottom Line. The incident occurred
yesterday near Global Towers at Wellawatte.
“The STF members had checked Ranathunga’s car and
there had been a war of words between the MP and the STF officials,”
the source said. “At that point the STF members had abused
Ranathunga using foul language. The source added that the
MP had complained about the incident to Defence Secretary
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who had asked the IGP to look into the
matter.
Meanwhile Police Spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera when contacted
said that the Police had carried out investigations after
Arjuna Ranathunga lodged a complaint that he was verbally
abused by STF personnel.
“A
team from the Police Headquarters visited the scene of the
incident at once and had questioned the STF team involved
in the incident. The STF members claimed that they had been
checking a suspicious vehicle when the incident happened,”
Gunasekera said. “But the issue was settled,” Gunasekera
said.
The STF team involved in the incident was not under
the influence of alcohol when the incident occurred, a police
source said. “These men were not drunk. It was proven
when they were inspected by a medical officer. It was the
MP that had abused these men using foul language,’ he
said.
The STF is in charge of security in the coastal railway track
after several explosions occurred on the railway line recently.
The team in question had been searching the stretch between
Bambalapitiya and Wellawatte before the incident took place.
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