It has now been revealed that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had instigated parliamentarian Kudu Duminda to kill Presidential Advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, a senior official from the Police Headquarters said.

The official asked us to immediately reveal these details since the Defence Secretary was trying to divert the investigation in another direction to cover the truth.

On the last day of the election campaign for the local government elections on the 8th, Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra made critical statements at the final election rally in Kolonnawa about MP Kudu Duminda and a senior official who was supporting him.

Premachandra had said that it is this defence official that provided security to the drug peddlers working under Kudu Duminda and that the Kolonnawa electorate had to be saved from drug dealers and people who protected them.

The Kolonnawa Police had recorded Premachandra’s full speech made in Kolonnawa and a senor police officer had immediately handed over a copy of the tape to Kudu Duminda that night. Kudu Duminda had immediately visited the Defence Secretary’s residence and had handed him the tape and made arrangements for both of them to listen to the speech.

Angered after hearing the speech, the Defence Secretary had said, “This fellow needs to be destroyed.” Kudu Duminda had not said anything, but responded by saying, “Ok Sir, I will take care of it.”

Kudu Duminda had then made plans to assassinate Premachandra on the 6th and 7th.

He had held several lengthy discussions about the matter with two underworld members loyal to him and two police officers. Kudu Duminda had asked them to be prepared to carry out the plan at any given moment.

MP Kudu Duminda had even telephoned MP Namal Rajapaksa while having a drink with some of his friends on the 7th night and said that he would teach Premachnadra a good lesson. Namal had advised Kudu Duminda not take any steps until the conclusion of the election.

However, Kudu Duminda’s security and the underworld members decided to carry out the task that was asked to be done after the elections on the 8th evening when Kudu Duminda and Premachandra came face to face in Mulleriyawa and Duminda slapped Premachandra resulting in the latter’s security personnel firing shots to the sky.

Following the shooting incident, the Defence Secretary had taken steps to send two persons involved in the shooting to India and another to Singapore and had asked the head of the Nugegoda Division SP Deshabandu Tennakoon keep the rest of the persons in secure locations.

The CID officers investigating the shooting incident have unraveled these details, but have now decided to take the investigation in another direction following an order by the Defence Secretary.

The senior official from the Police Headquarters said that most of the persons arrested in connection to the shooting incident were not involved in it and the weapons that have been presented to court are also not the ones used in the shoot out.