New Delhi: Charges of criminal negligence were framed on Monday against former Sri Lankan police chief Pujit Jayasundara for failing to act despite prior intelligence inputs about the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attack in Sri Lanka. About 270 people, including 11 Indians, were killed in these terrorist attacks.
According to a report in news agency PTI, a total of 855 charges of criminal negligence were leveled against Jayasundara as the Sri Lankan High Court began trial proceedings in the case. The lawyers told PTI that there are over 1,200 witnesses in the case. Jayasundara, who pleaded not guilty, was present in the courtroom when the charges against him were read out.
According to PTI, Jayasundara’s lawyers insisted that the former Inspector General was not guilty of ignoring intelligence. Similar allegations have been leveled against former Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, who was a key member of the Defense Ministry at the time of the attack in April 2019.
Jayasundara and Fernando were suspended from service and arrested in connection with the case. However, he was later released on bail. Both were accused by the then President Maithripala Sirisena of allegedly failing to stop the attacks despite prior intelligence being available.
Police had filed more than 23,000 charges against the suspects for planning, aiding and abetting the attack. Nine suicide bombers belonging to the National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ), a local Islamist extremist group affiliated with ISIS, carried out a series of bombings on three churches and several luxury hotels on April 21, 2019, killing at least 270 people and more than 500 people were killed. Injured.
During his tenure, President Sirisena set up a presidential panel to investigate the attacks. Sirisena, along with several other top defense officials including Fernando and Jayasundara, were found guilty of ignoring prior intelligence in the President’s special investigation. The panel’s report recommended criminal action against him.
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