Former minister appears before CID as Sri Lanka's new government reopens complicity probe in Easter Sunday bombings

A former minister on Wednesday appeared before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Sri Lankan police to record a statement on the alleged complicity by certain state officials in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan was last week asked to appear before the CID as he sought a postponement of his appearance just before the November 14 parliamentary election.

Chandrakanthan lost the election from the eastern Batticaloa district after the landslide victory of the National Peoples' Power.

The new NPP government in the lead-up to the September presidential election vowed to reopen the investigation, which the Catholic Church called a coverup, since the investigation began in 2019.

A UK Channel 4 documentary which was aired last year said Pillayan’s confidant Azad Moulana alleged that certain state officials were in contact with the leader of the local jihadi group which carried out the bombing that left 270 persons, including foreigners, dead.

The group’s suicide bombers targeted churches and tourist hotels in the attack.

State intelligence officials were accused of complicity with the attackers.

Pillayan, then a minister of state, accused Moulana of making false accusations in order to strengthen his asylum case after he fled the country.

Then President Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed a probe on the Channel 4 documentary content which found shortcomings in the investigations.