Vidya rape and murder: Senior DIG arrested

A serving Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police was arrested yesterday for assisting a rape-and-murder suspect to evade arrest.

Lalith Jayasinghe, now in charge of the Central Province, was summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department headquarters yesterday for a statement to be recorded and was then arrested. Police said he was the first highest ranking officer in service to be arrested and will be produced before Kayts magistrate tomorrow.

He was serving as the Senior Superintendent of Police in Jaffna, when 17-year-old schoolgirl Sivaloganathan Vidya was abducted, raped and murdered by a gang in May 2015.

A key suspect identified as Mahalingham Sasikumar alias Swiss Kumar escaped to Colombo after the crime.

The Kayts magistrate had earlier informed the CID to submit a report on the circumstances in which the suspect had escaped to Colombo after he surrendered to the Jaffna police.

The alleged involvement of the Senior DIG in the incident transpired during the recent Trial-atBar hearing of the Vidya case. The National Police Commission also took up the issue.

Meanwhile, a Jaffna Police station Sub Inspector, a witness in the case, was this week stopped at the BIA while he was trying to leave the country.