A short note about the former Senior Superintendent of the police
Shani Abeysekera
“…Shani Abeysekera is investigate whatever he wants.
Non-governmental organizations in this country do not question about
it. Those who fought the war, the navy commander, the intelligence
department, are going to put me in jail. Not only that, how can those
guys say my name? Officials and non-governmental organizations who
insisted, they do not question them.
On November 24, 2019, Miltary Nandasena Gotabaya went before a group
of Buddhist clergies and expressed the above views against the former
director Shani Abeysekara who was investigating Gotabaya’s crimes.
At that time Senior Superintendent of Police Shani Abeysekera was the
director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). He was
investigating the murder of Wasim Thajudeen, the abduction and
disappearance of 11 students in Colombo and suburbs with the
expectation of extortion, the disappearance of journalist Prageeth
Eknaligoda, the murder of businessman Shyam by DIG Vas Gunawardena and
a number of controversial crimes happened in Sri Lanka during military
Nandasena Gotabaya was the defense secretary.
Shani Abeysekera had arranged to record the statements from Military
Nandasena, Deshbandu Tennakoon in charge of Western Province and a
group of VIP’s attached with military Gotabaya and about his crimes.
Shani Abeysekera was removed from the post of Director of the Criminal
Investigation Department and appointed as Personal Assistant to the
DIG of Galle within 48 hours of military Gotabaya Nandasena who won
the presidential election held in November 2019 being sworn in as the
President.
Following that Shani Abeysekera was suspended from work and even after
three years of his suspension, no charge sheet was levelled against
him. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal then ordered the authorities
to pay Shani Abeysekera’s due wages.
Shani Abeysekera was arrested on July 31, 2020, a few days before the
August 2020 general election, and he was arrested by the Colombo
Crimes Division under the supervision of Senior DIG Deshabandu
Tennakoon.
Shani Abeysekera contracted Kovid while he was incarcerated on
suspicion and had a cardiac arrest but he was not given proper
treatment in the prison. After that, he underwent a heart surgery and
following the heart surgery, he was taken back to prison without being
allowed to receive in house treatment under medical supervision.
Following all these hindrances it was revealed that it was the need of
the state authorities to put Shani Abeysekara’s life at risk. The
Association of Young Journalists who paid attention to this organized
a public petition to provide security to Shani Abeysekera in prison.
During that time, President Military Nandasena appointed a anti
political revenge commission chaired by retired judge Upali Abeyrathne
and the commission recommended the release of the criminals arrested
under the supervision of Shani Abeysekera and prosecution before the
courts after 2015.
The Gampaha High Court judge refused to grant bail to Shani
Abeysekera, who had been imprisoned on suspicion for more than 10
months. His wife filed a revised petition to the Court of Appeal to
grant bail. The Court of Appeal, which considered the petition,
ordered that all the charges brought against Shani Abeysekera are
fabricated and false, and that he should be released on bail.
According to the court order, Shani Abeysekera was granted bail.
Shani Abeysekera retired from the police in June 2021 and payment of
his pension was suspended without any investigation. After the
retirement of Shani Abeysekera, on 31st June 2021, Senior DIG
Deshbandu published a hateful post against Shani Abeysekera through
his Facebook account.
Shani Abeysekera joined the Sri Lanka Police as a Sub Inspector on
10/02/1986. According to the special request of the then Deputy
Inspector General of Criminal Investigation Department, he has served
in various positions in the elite security section of the Police
Special Task Force of the Presidential Security Division during his 34
years of service in the police service before being appointed to that
department. After the 2019 presidential election, he was appointed as
the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department and was
transferred as Personal Assistant to the DIG of Galle on 21/11/2019.
During his more than 34 years of service, Shani Abeysekera was
actively involved in investigating a number of high-profile cases,
including the attempted assassination of former President Chandrika
Bandaranaike in 1999.
The LTTE attack on Katunayake International Airport in 2001, the
killing of Yvonne Johnson in Royal Park in 2005, the abduction and
disappearance of 11 youths by Naval Intelligence in 2008-2009 under
the guidance of navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda, the double murder
of Angulana in 2009, the kidnapping of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda
in 2010 are some of them. Furthermore, Shani Abeysekera was awarded a
certificate of appreciation by the Secretary of the International
Police in appreciation of the investigation into the Easter Sunday
bombing. He was the chief prosecution witness in over 100 cases,
including over 20 murder cases.
