The Deshabandu Saga

By Kassapa 

The comical spectacle of officers of the Sri Lanka Police force launching a manhunt to nab its Inspector General of Police (IGP), albeit suspended, unfolded this week. This was after the Matara Magistrate’s Court issued an order for his arrest on charges of complicity in an incident at Weligama where a policemen died. This is a reflection of how governments headed by both the Rajapaksa family and Ranil Wickremesinghe prostituted the Police force for their political advantage.

There was a time, during Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s term of office as president, when Tennakoon was preparing himself for the highest office in the Police. He did every disgusting task that was assigned to him by the Rajapaksas, his only aim being to get to the top of the Police force. 

This was very much in evidence when he allowed goons summoned by Mahinda Rajapaksa to Temple Trees, to march on to Galle Face and destroy ‘Gota Go Gama’, the home of the public uprising against Gotabaya Rajapaksa. There is footage of Tennakoon walking alongside Sanath Nishantha and paving the way for the destruction at Galle Face. Tennakoon was also implicated in asking that a stash of money recovered from President’s House after Gotabaya Rajapaksa had fled, be returned to him. There were legal proceedings against Tennakoon regarding both these instances.

Despite these blemishes on his record, then President Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed him as Acting IGP, following the retirement of Chandana Wickramaratne. It was said that initially, Wickremesinghe was reluctant to make the appointment because Wickramaratne was granted several extensions, but finally gave into pressure from Tiran Alles who was Minister of Public security at the time.  

As Acting IGP, Tennakoon staged the ‘Yukthiya’ drama. Purported to be a drive to eliminate the menace of drug trafficking he rounded up thousands of drug users and put them in custody, along with a massive publicity drive. This was Tennakoon’s way of making an impact as Acting IGP to ensure that would be made permanent in his post. The drug lords that imported narcotics to the country however roamed free while Tennakoon was busy staging his performance.   

However, Tennakoon’s sordid past as a Police officer was slowly but surely catching up with him. In December 2023, the Supreme Court held that four police officers including Acting IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon had violated the fundamental rights of a petitioner Ranjith Sumangala, by arresting and detaining him illegally and torturing him at the Mirihana Police Station, which was under Tennakoon’s supervision in 2011. Tennakoon was asked to pay financial compensation to the victim while the National Police Commission was ordered to conduct an inquiry against him.

If Wickremesinghe had an iota of political sense, that verdict should have ended Tennakoon’s career in the Police. Instead, Wickremesinghe saw in this situation an opportunity: by appointing Tennakoon as IGP even while he was under a cloud, he would be guaranteed of a Police Force that would be servile to Wickremesinghe’s commands. With a presidential election looming, Wickremesinghe would have found that too much to resist.

There was still a hurdle to be cleared: the Constitutional Council, which had to ratify Tennakoon’s appointment. There was no clear approval from the Council with two votes against Tennakoon, two abstentions and four for Tennakoon. That was when then Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena interpreted this to mean that the vote was ‘tied’ and exercised his right for a casting vote, a highly contentious decision. It is therefore clear that, even if Wickremesinghe had some reservations about Tennakoon previously, he was now working overtime to have him in the IGP’s chair.

If Tennakoon thought that his troubles were over once he was in power and place, he was mistaken. Several Fundamental Rights applications were filed citing his lack of suitability for the topmost post in the Police Force. In July last year, the Supreme Court issued an interim order restraining Tennakoon from functioning as the IGP. Since then, he has been off duty and has not been seen in public. The Court noted that this was not a barrier to making an appointment as Acting IGP but Wickremesinghe wouldn’t budge and refused to do so.

It was left to current President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to appoint Priyantha Weerasooriya as Acting IGP shortly after he was elected to office. As the Fundamental Rights applications against Tennakoon are still pending, Weerasooriya unfortunately cannot be confirmed in his post.

The case against which there is an arrest warrant for Tennakoon makes interesting reading. It is alleged that a Police team from the Colombo Crimes Division was despatched to Weligama under Tennakoon’s orders. There, they were shot at by the Weligama Police in the vicinity of a hotel. The Magistrate’s Court found that it was highly irregular for a team from Colombo to encroach into another Police territory without the proper approvals. It is alleged Tennakoon was personally directing these movements.

Tennakoon’s career and conduct in the Police is a symptom of the cancer that has enveloped the Police Force for the past twenty years.  The three Rajapaksa terms saw the Head of State demanding absolute partiality from the Police and rewarding them with impunity and immunity from prosecution. Tennakoon is a product of that culture.

The Maithripala Sirisena administration, at least initially did attempt to stop the rot but its choice as IGP, Pujith Jayasundara, also had to languish in custody and retire in disgrace in the aftermath of the 2019 Easter Day terror attacks. Wickremesinghe exploited Tennakoon for his own purposes when he accidentally stumbled upon the Presidency in 2022.

The assumption of office by President Dissanayake and the Jathika Jana Balavegaya (JJB) will not automatically cleanse the Police of all its corrupt elements. Already, the National Police Commission appears to be having its own agenda in not being very co-operative in this endeavour. Many an investigation which the JJB promised they will complete hinges on the support it receives from the Police. There has been some restructuring of the Police recently but it is still very much a work in progress.

That is why Deshabandu Tennakoon must be dealt with firmly, thoroughly and adequately. If that is done, that may serve as a deterrent to the hundreds of budding Deshabandus in the Police force who wish to reach the top by pandering to whims and fancies of predatory politicians.