Courtesy Ada Derana

Former Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka, who was arrested and produced before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court, has been remanded until tomorrow (19).

The Attorney General’s Department is expected to present further submissions when the case is taken up once again tomorrow.

The JHU General Secretary and UNF Parliamentarian, who served as a Cabinet Minister in the previous government, was arrested this evening by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) in connection with a road accident at Rajagiriya in 2016.

The Attorney General had advised the Senior DIG of Colombo to arrest and produce the UNF Parliamentarian before court. Accordingly MP Ranawaka was arrested by police acting on the AG’s advice. 

He was taken to the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) and later produced before the court.

He was arrested for allegedly causing grievous injury to a person by a rash and negligent act and for switching drivers in a road traffic accident. 

In 2016, the vehicle in which the former Megapolis and Western Province Development Minister was traveling in had collided against a motorcycle, causing life-threatening injuries to its rider.

The injured youth was identified as Sandeepa Sampath from the Godagama area.

A friend of this youth came forward saying he had given a chase to the vehicle that caused the accident and that it was MP Patali Champika who had driven the vehicle.

Despite the youth’s testimony, another person had surrendered to the Borella Police over the incident.

Although footage obtained from CCTV cameras were used in the investigation, the footage from the day of the incident had already erased, the police had told the court when the case was taken up in March 2016.

However, the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) recently presented submissions to the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on the alleged hit-and-run case.

The CCD sought the court to temporarily suspend the foreign travels of the parliamentarian and the person who claimed to have driven the vehicle at the time of the incident.

Taking the request into consideration, the magistrate temporarily imposed an overseas on Ranawaka and his then-driver.