Are you trying to send Gota to jail?

Railway Dept. Chief Engineer threatens Welikada riots eyewitness

A key eyewitness of the 2012 Welikada riots Sudesh Nandimal Silva yesterday filed a complaint with the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) against Chief Engineer of Operations (SubDepartment) of Sri Lanka Railways for having allegedly threatened him.

Speaking to the media, Nandimal alleged that Chief Engineer of Operations (Sub-department) Nilantha Fernando had threatened him on July 19.

Nandimal, a trade union activist had been voicing for the 27 inmates who died during the Welikada riots, since the day he was released from the prison. “I have been working at the Railways Department for several years. None of the officers had ever threatened me, reminding me of the Welikada riots,” he said.

“I tried to talk to him about sending me on a ridiculous transfer to Kandy. Nilantha asked me whether I was trying to send former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to jail. He also asked me as to why I was so bothered about the slain prisoners and rather threateningly said that people like me should not survive in the world”, Nandimal alleged.

“Nilantha was an affiliate of Gotabaya Rajapaksa. That was why I complained to the CID,” Nandimal remarked. However, the General Manager of Railways Department had nullified his transfer and reinstated him in the Colombo office.

The CID recently initiated a new probe into 27 deaths of inmates at the Welikada prison on November 9, 2012.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) has reportedly denied receiving the complaint from Nandimal yesterday over the threatening incident. Several attempts to contact SLHRC officials were proved to be futile.