Retired SSP Shani Abeysekera, serving the Police Department again, has been appointed to the committee headed by Senior DIG Asanka Karawita, tasked with studying the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) report on the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage.

The other members of the team are DIG, CID, Director, CID and Director Terrorism Investigation Division (TID)

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila yesterday said that Abeysekera had been one of the law enforcement officers whose conduct raised eyebrows over the years as regards the failure on the part of the CID to thwart the Easter Sunday attacks.

The National Police Commission approved the reappointment of SSP Abeysekera on contractual basis for one year, with effect from 10 Oct., 2024.

Abeysekera backed Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s presidential election campaign as a member of the retired police collective.

Four people who visited Kandy to pay homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic and for official duties have died, Director National Hospital, Kandy Dr. Iresha Fernando said.

The Education Ministry has decided to close schools on May 5 as notified in the Commissioner General of Elections' letter dated April 19, in view of the Local Government elections scheduled for May 6.

The government has declared April 26, 2025 as a national day of mourning in view of the passing away of Pope Francis. Accordingly, the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government requests that the national flag at all government institutions be hoisted at half mast.

Police have arrested three suspects, including a woman, in connection with the killing of Dan Priyasad, political activist, convenor of Nawa Sinhale National Movement and SLPP candidate in the upcoming local government (LG) elections from Kolonnawa.

Sri Lanka Police have appointed a four-member committee to study the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Easter Sunday bomb attacks, which spans approximately 66,000 to 67,000 pages, police said.

The government is questioning why some former government members, now in the Opposition, appear so worried about the ongoing investigations into the Easter Sunday bomb attacks, Health and Mass Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said.

A suspect was arrested following a failed shooting attempt at Andiambalama in Katunayake this morning, police said. Police said two individuals on a motorcycle had attempted to target a businessman in the area. However, their attempt was foiled when the weapon reportedly malfunctioned, preventing the shooting attempt.

Referring to the reports in the social media that Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith is a contender for the papacy which has fallen vacant with the death of Pope Francis, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka said there is no such thing called contenders for the papacy.

To genuinely bring justice to those who died and to those permanently disabled in the Easter Sunday bomb attacks, we must unite to defeat the rabid Islamic extremist forces that are spreading like a cancer in this country, Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera said.

The Attorney General has requested the Chief Justice to appoint three High Court judges to constitute a High Court-at-Bar for the trial against former Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella over the controversial purchase of substandard immunoglobulin injections.