Former, Army Chief of Staff Major General (retired) Amal Karunasekara was taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the Army hospital last night in connection with the abduction and assault of senior journalist Keith Noyahr.
The Mount Lavinia Magistrate earlier directed Major Gen. Karunasekara to appear before the CID to record a statement. However, Major Gen Karunasekara yesterday admitted himself to the army hospital with complaints of giddiness and nausea. The army, later informed the CID that he has been admitted to the army hospital.
The CID, having visited the army hospital placed Major Gen. Karunasekara under arrest.
At the time of his abduction on May 22, 2008, Keith Noyahr functioned as the Associate Editor of the Nation Sunday Newspaper.
Later, the CID arrested seven suspected soldiers including Major Prabath Bulathwatte in February 2017 in connection with this abduction and assault. The charge against Major Gen. Karunasekara is that he allegedly assisted the party headed by Major Bulathwatte in the abduction.
Major Gen Karunasekara was the Intelligence Chief of the Army at the time of abduction of Keith Noyahr. When the CID submitted a report to the court, the magistrate imposed a travel ban on Major Gen Karunasekara. Later, he was allowed to travel overseas on an official visit to India since he is now functioning as the Commandant of the Defence College after he retired as army chief of staff.
However, the travel ban was imposed earlier this week after Major Gen.Karunasekara’s name was listed as a suspect in the abduction.
The Mount Lavinia Magistrate last night referred the matter to the Colombo Magistrate since the Army Hospital comes under the Colombo Judicial Zone.
Courtesy: Daily News
