Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena was a notable absentee among senior law enforcement officials at a briefing for MPs on investigations into the Easter Sunday terror attacks.
At the time of the attacks in 2019, he was the director of state intelligence.
Jayawardena has told ‘Lankadeepa’ newspaper that he had not been invited to attend the briefing on 19 September.
However, on the following day, he was present at a meeting of the sectoral oversight committee on power and transport.
He was representing IGP C.D. Wickramaratne, who informed the secretary to the ministry of public security in writing that he was unable to attend due to unavoidable circumstances.
The public security ministry organized the briefing for ruling and opposition MPs on the progress of investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks, where its secretary Viani Gunatilake, IGP Wickramaratne and top officials of the CID and the TID were present.
Later, the MPs told the media that hitherto unknown details about the attacks came to light at the briefing.
