Punishing the diligent?

Inspector General of Police, N.K. Illangakoon, transferred all the 23 officers other than the Director of the Organized Crime and Corruption Prevention Division of the Police Headquarters in less that 24 hours following their raid of a gaming centre at the Salaka building in Union Place, Colombo.


The police officers, who raided the gaming centre which was run with the blessings of the politicos and officers, have been transferred out of the Western Province.
Police rounded up the casino in the wee hours of 4 November and took into custody 45 persons including the manager. Some politicians and several police chiefs called the senior officers of the Police Unit and ordered them to move out of the Salaka Club and Restaurant. An official linked to the National Police Commission and a former Deputy Inspector General of Police, who is now a lawyer, were among those who influenced the police to release the suspects. However, the police had possessed a warrant issued by Maligakanda Court.


The owner of the gaming centre is a woman who is said to be very close to politicians. It is suspected that the reason behind these swift transfers was this association. The transfer orders were issued suddenly at midnight on 6 November.
The police team rounded up the casino for the second time. On 1 July, 83 persons were arrested. The police were thereafter warned to keep away from this club but the officers said they saw no reason to grant impunity for this club as they were continuing raids in other similar places.


Removed


The Organized Crime and Corruption Prevention Division was first established in Chaithya Road, Colombo Fort, in 2001, when T.E. Anandarajah was the Police Chief. It was attached to the Vilasitha Nivasa office under the direct purview of the Inspector General of Police on 5 September 2010.
At the outset, the Division was after the underworld, and several leading gangsters saw the end of their lives in the hands of these officers. The present Inspector General of Police removed it from underworld operations but they continued their work in the prevention of organized crime and corruption.


Police Media Spokesman, SSP Ajith Rohana, said the transfers have no connection with the raid of the casino and have been made by the IGP at the request of the Deputy Inspector General of Police, I.M. Karunaratna.
DIG Karunaratna has said that there is no proper supervision and the officers are up to bribery. Within a week the request was made, the IGP decided to transfer all the officers without further investigations.


SSP Ajith Rohana said, the two police inspectors, two sub inspectors, three sergeants, 15 constables and one woman constable transferred have been substituted by others.
Ajith Rohana said that two officers of the Division were arrested on 9 September as they were soliciting a bribe from a Muslim businessman. However, sources said the two suspected officers were in the service of the Crime Investigation Division located at the Police Headquarters under the direct purview of the IGP.


Transferred


They were transferred from the Organized Crime and Corruption Prevention Division on 22 January together with five more police officers. DIG-in-Charge of Crime Division, Jayantha Kulatilake, issued the relevant order.
IP Rohan Mahesh, Sergeants Nimal and Jayaweera, Constables Kamalasiri, Liyanage, Jayasinghe and Sameera were thus transferred but Kamalasiri got his transfer cancelled. The other six were transferred with their fire arms to the Crime Investigation Division.


Liyanage and Jayasinghe were arrested by the Mirihana Police as they were attempting to obtain a ransom. But, they were not in the service of the Organized Crime and Corruption Prevention Division.


None of the officers of the Crime Investigation Division have been transferred yet. An inspector who was with the police officers that solicited ransom was given a promotion as the Officer-in-Charge of the Manipai Police Station. The Police Spokesman said, the transfers were made at the request of DIG Karunaratna to transfer the police officers that worked in the Division for more than a year. However, some of the transferred officers have less than one year of service there. For example, PCs Karunaratna (3907) and Nandana (46522) assumed duties on 16 January and 10 April 2013, respectively. Police has a transfer scheme for officers who are in service for more than three years in one station. It is not for those with one year of service. But, still there are officers who have worked in the same station more than six years.


Therefore, all the police arguments on these transfers fail and it is clear that the 23 police officers have been transferred because they acted against the powerful illegal casino.