Three victims of the Easter Sunday bombings, which occurred on 21 April 2019 and claimed the lives of over 260 people, have filed a Fundamental Rights petition before Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court seeking an order restraining Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon from accepting any further appointments as Acting Inspector General of Police.
The petitioners named Tennakoon as a senior official displaying serious neglect on part of Sri Lanka’s police and recommended taking disciplinary action him and other senior officials.
The petitions further detailed, in a letter in July, how Colombo Archbishop Malcom Cardinal Ranjith wrote to the Speaker expressing concerns relating to Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena and Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon and explaining the reasons on why the said individuals were not qualified to be appointed as IGP.
Tennakoon has also been accused of purposefully neglecting his duty to prevent violence between pro-Rajapaksa and anti-government protesters during the unrest in 2022.
