Old celebration picture resurfaces as jailed Sri Lanka police chief gets bail
"Underworld Deshabandu celebrates new year thanks to your help," reads a Sinhala-language Facebook post published on April 14, 2025.
It goes on to sarcastically thank Sri Lanka's ministers of justice and public security for police chief Deshabandu Tennakoon's release from jail after a magistrate in the southern city of Matara granted him bail (archived link).
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Screenshot of the misleading post taken on April 22, 2025
Tennakoon was appointed Inspector General of Police in November 2023, despite Sri Lanka's highest court ruling that he had tortured a suspect in custody.
A court ordered his arrest in February for authorising an ill-fated raid which triggered a gun battle between rival police units in the coastal resort town of Weligama. An officer was killed in the shoot-out.
He went on the run for two weeks before turning himself in mid-March.
Legislators had voted unanimously to open a formal investigation into his conduct, and he is widely expected to be impeached unless he resigns (archived link).
Similar Facebook posts also shared the picture following Tennakoon's release on bail on April 10, four days before Sri Lanka celebrates its traditional New Year.
But a reverse image search on Google found the photo was posted on his Facebook account on April 14, 2024 (archived link).
It was part of an album showing the police chief marking the occasion with his family and was captioned in Sinhala: "Celebrated the New Year 2024 at home".
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Screenshot comparison of the picture as seen in the misleading post (left) and on Tennakoon's Facebook account
A review of Tennakoon's Facebook account shows the latest post was on February 4, and does not mention New Year celebrations after his release.
AFP has previously debunked misinformation related to the controversial police chief.
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