CID Reopens Lalith-Kugan Disappearance Case After 14 Years

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Sri Lankan government has officially handed over the long-stalled investigation into the disappearance of human rights activists Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganandan to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala made the announcement in Parliament today (7).

The two activists went missing on December 9, 2011, in Jaffna, under circumstances that have remained unresolved for over a decade.

Initial reports were submitted to the judiciary on December 12, 2011, and the case was heard multiple times before being set aside by court order on October 10, 2014 due to lack of investigative progress.

Minister Wijepala revealed that, due to the prolonged stagnation of the case, the Acting Inspector General of Police issued formal instructions on June 3, 2025, directing the CID to take over the investigation. 

A letter was subsequently sent to the Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Northern Province, requesting all relevant case files and forensic reports from the Achchuveli Police Station, the Jaffna Division Crime Investigation Unit, and the regional forensic laboratory.

These documents were officially transferred to the CID on June 11, 2025. The Homicide and Organized Crime Division of the CID has now begun active investigations into the case.

The Minister also disclosed that the CID is currently investigating four other disappearance cases in the Northern and Eastern provinces, while the Colombo Crime Division is handling six additional cases. None of these investigations have yet been concluded.