Army colonel, wife arrested for plotting to kill Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 04:04 GMT]
Five suspects, including an Army Colonel, held under detention orders for their alleged involvement in plotting to assassinate President Mahinda Rajapakse, were handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Friday for further investigations on the orders of Mount Lavinia Additional Magistrate Ruchira Weliwatte. The court made the order on an application by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD).

The five suspects were identified as Ranjit Perera, a Colonel in the Sri Lanka Army, his wife Kareema Hameed, Raamasamy Prabhakaran, Shanmugam Nawamani and Chanaka Kaludheera.

The police told court that the arrests were made following a confession made by a detainee, suspected to be an LTTE cadre, now under custody.

Seven suspects including two Tamils were initially arrested.

However, two suspects identified as Wellappilige Dharmasiri and Mohamed Hilmi were released after preliminary investigation, court sources said.