Move to withdraw charge sheet on ASP?

The long drawn-out inquiry into an alleged act of insubordination by an Assistant Superintendent of Police against a senior Deputy Inspector General has taken a new turn with a person claiming to be a legal advisor to a VVIP allegedly trying to force a settlement by requesting the National Police Commission Chairman to withdraw the charge sheet served on the ASP.

NPC Chairman Neville Piyadigama contacted by The Sunday Times in this regard, however denied anyone was trying to influence him and said the answer submitted by ASP Ranmal Kodituwakku last week to the charge sheet served on him had already been forwarded to the IGP for necessary action.

However the call has been traced back to a VVIP office. It is learnt that Mr. Kodituwakku while totally denying he abused in foul language then senior DIG H.M.G.B. Kotakadeniya outside his official residence at Keppetipola Mawatha, Colombo 5 on the night of September 10, 2002, had asked for a fresh preliminary inquiry into the alleged incident.

Mr. Kodituwakku, the only son of former IGP Lakdasa Kodituwakku had also asked that no police officer be appointed to hold any inquiry and that it should be conducted by an impartial outsider.

NPC Secretary K.C. Logeswaran however said there was no necessity for Mr. Kodituwakku to insist on an outsider as a police officer would not be allowed to hold the inquiry and it would be conducted by someone of the rank of a retired Senior Assistant Secretary or an Additional Ministry Secretary. The one-man tribunal will be selected from a panel of such people who have had experience in handling disciplinary inquiries while they were in service.

Mr. Logeswaran said the IGP could appoint an officer of a rank above that of ASP Kodituwakku to prosecute the case, while Mr. Kodituwakku too can retain a suitable public officer to defend him. The inquiry report too will come to the NPC and if found guilty the final punishment will be decided with the observations of the IGP on the tribunal findings. In the meantime if he is not satisfied with the outcome, Mr. Kodituwakku would be free to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal headed by a retired Supreme Court judge.

The case has already run a virtual obstacle course. The initial departmental inquiry was conducted by Senior DIG Bodhi Liyanage, but the entire file had gone missing mysteriously. When a fresh probe was ordered a DIG heading it had concluded that there was no evidence, despite policemen at two sentry points in this high security zone identifying ASP Kodituwakku and his car no. 18-4110 in the area at the time of the alleged incident

The date of the alleged incident was also the day President Kumaratunga by-passed Senior DIG Kotakadeniya for promotion to the rank of IGP and instead appointed another to the post. Mr. Kotakadeniya an outspoken officer eventually retired in disgust and later took to politics with the JHU. With the election of President Rajapaksa and the JHU being one of his biggest backers, Mr. Kotakadeniya was appointed to the Defence Ministry as an advisor on police affairs. At the time the said offence was committed Mr. Kodituwakku was a probationary ASP.