IT WAS A TOTAL MISCONCEPTION

One prominent individual among the accused in this case was OIC U. Arulanandam who is alleged to have released the vehicle following orders from higher officials. However he related the incident to this writer in the following manner. “On September 28, Sergeant Gunawardana was doing the night shift and he had apprehended this vehicle at 4.00 am on September 29 stating that the vehicle was transporting sand without a permit. But they had a permit. By about 8.00 am the owner came to the Police and told me that he had a permit. When I checked he had a permit which was valid from 6.00 pm on September 28 to 6.00 am on September 29. But the vehicle was apprehended at 4.30am and therefore there was one and a half hours left for it to be an invalid permit. Thereafter I asked the owner to go to the Geological Survey Department and bring a report stating that the permit was still valid.

“By Monday, October 1, he returned with the statement from the Geological Department, but before releasing the vehicle I wanted the owner to show it to the Sergeant as well,” he continued. “But he had gone to High Courts since he has an ongoing case. We had to wait and by this time the owner got angry and in turn had complained to the Mathugama Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP). When the ASP asked me what had happened I said that the permit is valid, but I needed to show it to the Sergeant, so that he wouldn’t have any misconception about me. But because we couldn’t find him anywhere and because the owner was wasting time we released the vehicle. Since the owner had complained about Sergeant to the Mathugama ASP, Sergeant Gunawardana had to go and give a statement there.

“Then the next day, the Sergeant came with his weapon, loaded it and aimed it at me, shouting in filth and asking why the vehicle was released,” Sergeant continued.“i ducked under my desk because I didn’t want to be shot at. He fired twice, but nobody reported that those shots were aimed at me. People are of the view that I released this vehicle taking bribes. But I have served in the Police for 28 years and have never been involved in such shady acts,” said OIC Arulanandam.

OIC Arulanandam is from Batticaloa and his father was taken away by the terrorists during the height of the war. To date, OIC Arulanandam doesn’t know his whereabouts. After the incident my children didn’t go to school for a week because they were scared. I was threatened by the people because they questioned as to how I could release one vehicle when I have apprehended their vehicle, also for a similar incident some time ago. Following death threats I had to keep senior officials informed because my family is in Colombo and I work here. However, it is a total misconception that reached another level,” he added.