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Robber
gang arrested Police acting on a tip-off arrested the suspects in Borella and Kelaniya and seized jewellery worth more than Rs. 200,000 and a baby pistol. They said the gang had confessed to several robberies in Avissawella, Kandana, Ratmalana and Thummulla. The suspects had said the jewellery belonged to a family that was staying at an Avissawella resthouse. The suspects were produced in court and remanded. House
to debate Railway issue Opposition
Leader Mahinda Rajapakse has already made a statement to Parliament
on the issue in late July where he accused the government of using
a law passed in 1993 to convert the Department to an Authority. Parliament is also set to debate the Inland Revenue (Special provisions) Bill that is seeking to extend the date within which tax offenders can claim an amnesty from June 30 till August 15. However, this Bill is being challenged in courts. Bogus
book two years old The fake complaint
book, with its 26 complaints, that was discovered by Police Chief
T. E. Anandarajah, was only the tip of the iceberg, according to
what was revealed by Negombo police sources to The Sunday Times.
The police sources say the bogus complaint book was in existence
for more than two years. The disgusting practice of maintaining
a fake complaint book was to show their superiors the crime rate
in the Negombo police division was low. Many a complainant
who had their complaint recorded went away feeling satisfied but
unaware the complaint made in good faith had only been recorded
in the fake complaint book and would never be investigated. The Negombo
police sources said the fake complaint book was destined to be around
for much longer if not for the rift that surfaced between the HQI
and two inspectors that led to the scandal seeing the light of day. The bone of
contention between the HQI on the one hand and the two inspectors
on the other was that the HQI had been harshly critical of the two
inspectors for their professional incompetence and misconduct. According to
police sources one of the two inspector's who was the officer-in-charge
of the tourist police was reprimanded by the Headquarters Inspector
for alleged incidents of sexual misconduct and the other had been
faulted for lack of professionalism in the performance of his duties.
This had angered the two inspectors who are said to have hatched
a plot against the HQI by revealing the existence of the fake complaint
book about which the HQI had been aware of, from the time the book
had made its appearance at the police station. The sources
revealed that the two inspectors had hired the services of a police
sergeant to steal the fake complaint book and sent it to the IGP
in an effort to implicate the HQI. It is the usual
practice in police stations to enter complaints in the 'grave crime
information book' (GCIB) and at the end of the day rewrite them
in another book called the 'grave crime register' (GCR). This not
only helps maintain records in duplicate but also is a check to
make sure that the records in the GCIB and GCR tally. The duplicity
adopted by the Crime Branch in the Negombo police as part of their
daily allotted daily duty was to use the fake complaint book to
enter some of the complaints that were received. Later in the
evening the Crime Branch duty officers would destroy complaints
recorded in the fake complaint book and thereby ensuring that they
do not appear in the GCR. Chain snatching, cattle looting, illegal
felling of trees, extorting money and robberies are some of the
crimes that had been recorded in the forged complaint book. However sources
in the police confirmed that a large number of complaints had been
recorded in the fake book during the last couple of years. Though this
serious situation that existed in the Negombo police station yet
it was ironical that some of the officers claimed they were unaware
such a book was being used to record complaints. One policeman attached
to the Negombo police told The Sunday Times that he narrowly escaped
interdiction or transfer for the crime being involved in the fake
complaint book scandal as he had also unwittingly entered two complaints
in the book without knowing it was not the real thing. However in
most instances the policeman involved in the scam were shrewd enough
to visit those against whom complaints were made to give the complainant
the impression that their complaint was being followed up, but the
truth of the matter was that nothing really happened. The criteria
for an entry to be recorded in either of the books depended on the
complainants social standing, or his connections. By this action
the Negombo police have not only attempted to hoodwink the public
but have also been guilty of violating an individual's human rights. People who
come under the jurisdiction of Negombo police say their confidence
in the police has been eroded with those who should have provided
them assistance have in reality only cheated them. A young person
named Lahiru Jude living in the Pamunugama area who had lodged a
compliant at the Negombo police station on June 29 over in an incident
of physical harassment by another person told The Sunday Times that
upto date the police has taken no action with regard to his complaint. "They
neither came to record a statement from the person who brutally
assaulted me nor called him to the police station, now the person
who assaulted me is moving freely without any hindrance", the
worried young man said. Jagath Keerawinna,
the SSP of the Negombo Police Division told The Sunday Times that
the maintenance of a forged complaint book by the Negombo police
is a grave human rights violation and an offence of misleading the
public. "They
have not only misled the people in their jurisdiction, but they
have cheated police force including the IGP and this is a bad record
for the country", the SSP said. He said that
as a result of this unfortunate scandal, culprits are seen freely
moving about in Negombo and in actual fact the crime rate in the
area has been doubled contradicting what the Negombo police attempted
to show. The SSP pointed
out that police had not provided the complainants with the 1B form,
which is given to the complainants after lodging their complaints
as a proof of their complaint. Mr. Keerawinna too admitted that the reason this scam was exposed was because the HQI and the two inspectors fell out and added that many who must now be aware that their complaints may have been recorded in the fake complaint book may be reluctant to take any action because of their fear of the police. After this racket was exposed, the Negombo HQI was transferred to Peliyagoda while five other police officers have been interdicted. |
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