By Rathindra Kuruwita

Former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen had called him on the day Dr. Segu Shihabdeen Mohamed Shafi, accused of steralising women without their consent, was granted bail, and spoke mockingly, former Kurunegala SSP Mahinda Dissanayake, on Saturday morning, told the PCoI investigating the Easter Sunday attacks.

Dissanayake said there were subtle interferences throughout the investigation into allegations against Dr. Shafi.

Earlier, DIG Kithsiri Jayalath, who was previously in charge of the Kurunegala District, told the PCoI that the arrest of Dr. Shafi, had led to his transfer. DIG Jayalath said Dr. Shafi was a friend of the then Minister Rishad Bathiudeen. Jayalath said that according to intelligence reports, Shafi had received money from the Thawheed Jamaath movement.

SSP Dissanayake, who served under Jayalath, was summoned before the PCoI.

Ravishani Peiris, the counsel for Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, questioned the witness on the Shafi investigation.

Peiris: “When did you first hear about Shafi?”

SSP Dissanayake: “After the Easter Sunday attacks.”

Peiris: “What did you hear about him?”

SSP Dissanayake: “There was unrest following, Easter Sunday attacks in Kurunegala too. It was at this time that we received information about Shafi, who was attached to Kurunegala Hospital. Shafi also had a private medical centre near the hospital. During his statement to the Police, Shafi said that Muslims abroad send large sums to this centre.”

SSP Dissanayake added that Shafi told him not to ask further questions on the fund transfers. The Police were unable to identify those who had sent funds and for what purpose.

He said: “I informed the Court about this on 22 May 2019 through a B report. We found that there were significant transactions in Shafi’s accounts but not how he received these funds. At this point, we received information that Shafi had been conducting non-consensual sterilisations of Sinhalese women. We were told that mishaps take place during his surgeries and that he had tried to give a baby born to one mother to another woman. Shafi had done about 8,000 cesarean deliveries by then.”

The witness said that Shafi had been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA.) Policemen also seized a number of court materials from Shafi as well, he said. Among the items seized was the DVR in which CCTV footage of Shafi’s private clinic was stored, the SSP said.

SSP Dissanayake: “A day after we took Shafi in, CID and TID officers came and took the suspect into their custody. However, I later learned that the above mentioned DVR had been returned to Shafi outside of the proper procedure and that a lot of CCTV footage had been deleted.”

The SSP added that DIG Kithsiri Jayalath and he had been transferred to Puttalam and Kantale respectively following the commencement of the Shafi investigation. Soon after the release of Shaffi on bail, former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen had called him, SSP Dissanayake said.

SSP Dissanayake : “Bathiudeen asked me “Mr. Dissanayake, do you feel good now?” I have not revealed this to anyone before.

A Commissioner: “Did you think this was a threat?”

SSP Dissanayake: “There was no reason for him to call me.”

A journalist working with BBC Sinhala Shirley Upul Kumara too testified at the PCoI. He was questioned on an interview he had done with former President Maithripala Sirisena and allegations made by Sirisena that the video that BBC published had been heavily edited and his answerss distorted.

The Attorney General’s Department representative leading evidence asked Kumara if the video was edited.

Kumara: “Yes. We did the interview outdoors and sometimes the wind would ruffle his hair. We removed those parts. We also removed repetitions. But we never distorted his answers.”

AG representative: “Did President Sirisena or his office request the BBC to remove the video.

Kumara: “I asked our HQ before coming here. No such request had been made. The interview was done in a cordial manner. At the end we even took a selfie and Sirisena put his hand around my shoulder.”

Earlier Sirisena said that there were constant arguments between him and Kumara during the interview.