Sri Lanka to sack jailed police chief over a botched drug raid
Sri Lanka's ruling party said on Tuesday it would sack the island nation's police chief, who is in custody awaiting trial over a botched drug raid that resulted in an officer's death.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's ruling coalition submitted a resolution to that effect in parliament, beginning a lengthy legal process to dismiss Inspector-General Deshabandu Tennakoon.
"We hope the speaker will act promptly on the resolution," lawmaker and deputy labour minister Mahinda Jayasinghe told reporters outside the legislature.
"We want him removed on four counts -- corruption, misconduct, abuse of power, and gross partiality in office."
Dissanayake is required to address parliament before appointing a three-member panel to investigate the allegations.
If Tennakoon is found guilty, an absolute majority of lawmakers must endorse his removal.
Dissanayake's leftist National People Power (NPP) coalition has the numbers to comfortably remove Tennakoon after a landslide election victory last year.
The police chief turned himself in to authorities last week after more than a fortnight on the run from an arrest warrant.
He stands accused of authorising an ill-fated drug bust in 2023, allegedly in violation of internal regulations, which triggered a gun battle between competing police units in the southern coastal resort town of Weligama.
One police officer was killed, and another was critically wounded in the incident. No drugs were found.
Tennakoon was appointed police chief in November 2023, but the move was challenged in the Supreme Court, which suspended him last July pending the outcome of a separate case.
He was given the top job despite Sri Lanka's highest court ruling that he had tortured a suspect in custody by rubbing menthol balm on his genitals.
The Supreme Court ordered Tennakoon to pay half a million rupees ($1,666) in compensation to the victim, but the previous government ignored judicial orders to take disciplinary action against him.
State prosecutor Dileepa Peeris told a court last week that Tennakoon was the "head of a criminal network" and unfit to lead the 85,000-strong police force.
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