CID team sent to Digana

A team of investigators from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was dispatched to Digana yesterday, to take stock of the prevailing situation and damage to property following Monday’s flare up that left one dead.

The Police arrested 24 individuals so far in the wake of the tragic incidence of violence and arson, resulting, in communal tension in the area.

Speaking to the Daily News, Director CID, DIG B.R.S.R. Nagahamulla said the team was sent on a fact-finding mission on the instructions of the Inspector General of Police.

“We need to know what happened and what is happening, their purpose will be to report back with those facts.”

Meanwhile, Police Spokesperson ASP Ruwan Gunasekera said the 24 individuals who were arrested after being tear gassed by Theldeniya police would remain in remand custody until March 19.

The four other suspects who had allegedly beaten up the 41-year-old M.G Kumarasinghe, a lorry driver who succumbed to his injuries on Saturday at the Kandy Hospital would be produced before the Kandy Magistrate today.

The Police also confirmed the first casualty of the violence which took hold of Digana. Twenty six-year-old Samsudeen Basith had been in his home when mobs had attacked his house on Monday evening during curfew hours. His uncle Mohammed Malik speaking to the Daily News said that Basith’s parents had been able to flee, except for Basith who had been in the upper floor of his house and with no other exit. Police confirmed yesterday that he had died of asphyxiation from inhaling fumes. The President has called for an independent, impartial inquiry into the incidents while the government has condemned the recent incidents of violence.

(Source: Daily News – By Rukshana Rizwie and Maneshka Borham)