Upali Tennakoon assault: Former Intelligence officer arrested

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Former Army Intelligence Officer Corporal Lalith Rajapaksa was arrested by the CID today(July 08) over the assault on journalist Upali Tennakoon. Police spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekera said the arrest made following the discovery of Lalith Rajapaksa's fingerprints at the scene of the assault. SP Ruwan Gunasekera noted that the investigations lead to the inspection of 285 fingerprints of Sri Lanka Army personnel to match with the fingerprints discovered from the car Lasantha Wickremetunge was killed but to no avail. However, he added that the 285 fingerprints were used to match the fingerprints found at the scene of Upali Tennakoon's assault and the fingerprints of the Corporal Lalith Rajapaksa were identical to them, leading to his arrest. Sri Lanka Police said former Army Intelligence Officer Corporal Lalith Rajapaksa was attached to the Sri Lankan Embassy in Germany in 2014 and returned to the country in 2017.