Engineer alleges assault by Bhaila’s son

A SriLankan-born British passport holder on holiday in Colombo was assaulted allegedly by Deputy Minister Hussein Bhaila’s son on Friday morning in front of his residence in Bambalapitiya after the two got into an argument over their vehicles passing through a narrow road. Paul Savarimuttu, a 57-year-old Sri Lankan Chartered Engineer living in Warrington, was injured in the incident and is receiving treatment at the Colombo eye hospital.

Mr. Savarimuttu said he was reversing his vehicle out of his home in Bambalapitiya when he noticed that a white Pajero had pulled up behind him. He said the driver of the Pajero beckoned him to move his vehicle to a side as the road was narrow and the vehicle could not pass.

However, a misunderstanding between the two drivers caused the passenger of the Pajero, who was the son of Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Bhaila, to get down from his vehicle and argue with Mr. Savarimuttu.
Azil Bhaila, who is also the private secretary of the Deputy Minister, allegedly pushed Mr. Savarimuttu into the passenger seat of his own car and started to assault him while the Pajero driver made no attempt to stop it.

“If the neighbours had not heard the commotion and come and stopped him, these injuries could have been worse. He had restricted the movements of my hands so I couldn’t defend myself,” Mr. Savarimuttu said. After the neighbours wanted to inform the local police, Mr. Savarimuttu stated that the Deputy Minister’s son pretended to be a police officer and made a call from his cell phone saying he was informing headquarters.

Later, two people in another four wheel drive pulled up with a suspicious ‘police’ sticker on the front stating that they were from police headquarters. The neighbours then insisted on calling the Bambalapitiya Police after which the suspicious police vehicle left the scene.

After making a complaint at the Bambalapitiya Police Station, Mr. Savarimuttu was admitted to the eye hospital after the severe assaulting he received caused internal bleeding under his right eye. He said he would be taking immediate action against the Deputy Minister’s son and had already sought advice from his lawyers.

But, Azil Bhaila told the Sunday Times that he was only defending himself against Mr. Savarimuttu who began the argument and attacked him first.“He completely blocked out the road when he was reversing his vehicle from his residence and then asked me to take my car all the way back up the road in order for him to take his vehicle. “When I refused he started an argument and punched me on my shoulder,” he said.

Azil Bhaila denied all accusations of pretending to be from the police and said he was the one who called the 119 emergency number and requested the police to come to the scene. He said his action was purely one of self defence and was not a deliberate attack on a civilian.

The Bambalapitiya police confirmed that a complaint was made regarding the involvement of the Deputy Minister’s son. The Police took a statement from Mr. Savarimuttu at his ward in the eye hospital on Friday while Azil Bhaila’s statement was recorded at the Bambalapitiya police station. Police said investigations were continuing and they could not comment on who hit whom first.