Investigations
After his shooting in January 2000, a former reserve police constable named Sugath Ranasinghe had telephoned the Crimes Detection Bureau(CDB) headquarters and informed them that he was responsible for contracting two underworld gunmen, Moratuwa Saman and Sujeewa, to kill Mr. Ponnambalam. Reserve police constable Ranasinghe had had his enlistment in the police cancelled, as he had not reported for work for several months .
Mahen Ratwatte, the controversial son of the then deputy defence minister and maternal uncle of the then serving president, General Anuruddha Ratwatte, was alleged to have ordered the killing. Moratu Saman was subsequently murdered.. It was alleged by the Sunday Leader that he was shot in an attempt to prevent him from testifying against Mahen Ratwatte.
The Attorney General ruled that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges for the murder against Mahen Ratwatte, as the sole evidence that was available was Sugath Ranasinghe's taped telephone conversation, which could not be used for prosecution since he remained an accused.
Subsequent to allegations made by SSP Bandula Wickremasinghe in an article captioned "Startling Revelations of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Efforts to Shield Murderers of Kumar Ponnambalam and 'Satana' Editor Rohana Kumara Have Been Bared" in the prominent weekly magazine Sunday Leader, the Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga denied any involvement and directed the inspector general of police to hold an impartial investigation into the matter. There are no further developments regarding this murder investigation.
Read more about this topic: Kumar Ponnambalam