Sri Lanka's State Minister of Water Supply, Sanatha Nishantha and his security officer died in an accident in the early hours of this morning when the vehicle they were travelling in collided with a container truck along the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway near Kandana.
Issuing a statement, police confirmed that the accident occurred at 2 am when the minister’s jeep was plying on the Katunayake Expressway near the 11 km post. His vehicle had collided with a container truck that was driving in the same direction after which it collided with the safety fence along the highway.
The minister was accompanied by his security officer, a police constable Jayakodi bearing police ID 72542. Both he and his security officer were pronounced dead by the Ragama Teaching Hospital upon admission. The driver of the vehicle who was seriously injured is presently being treated at the same hospital. Kandana Police are conducting further investigations.
Minister Nishantha represents the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna (SLPP) in parliament with his electorate being the Puttalam district. His sullied record often comes up in the news. In September 2022, Human Rights Watch (HRW) sounded the alarm over the appointment of Nishantha as a minister in Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremasinghe's government adding that the appointment is indicative that the government is not committed to protecting human rights, ending impunity or upholding the rule of law.
Nishantha was also investigated for his alleged role in the violent attack on anti-government protestors. He was subsequently arrested on May 15 in connection with the incident and released on bail a month later.
Prior to this in 2008, he and his brother Jagath Samantha assaulted and obstructed the duties of the Arachchikattuwa Divisional Secretary, and then in 2015, attacked the office of then presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena. In 2020, in a video widely shared by the media, Nishantha is seen forcing the forest conservation and locals to allow mangroves in Negombo to be destroyed so a volleyball court can take its place. At the same, nearly an acre of land in the Ramsar Wetland was illegally cleared by his brother for a shrimp farming initiative.
