Two suspects held, police say hunt on for mastermind

Two persons have been arrested for allegedly trying to assassinate Jaffna High Court judge M. Ilancheliyan in a shooting incident on Saturday, according to the Sri Lankan police.

“Several teams have been deployed to arrest the main suspect,” police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara told The Hindu on Monday. The attack did not appear pre-planned, he had earlier told local media.

Police officer Sarath Premachandra — a 57-year-old Sinhalese — died on Sunday after succumbing to bullet injuries he suffered in the effort to save Justice Ilancheliyan.

The officer had been part of the Tamil judge’s security detail for many years, media reports said. Following his death, a video of Justice Ilancheliyan visiting Premachandra’s wife went viral on social media, with several users sharing the clip of the judge bowing before her and breaking down.

High-profile cases

Justice Ilancheliyan is a prominent judge who has presided over several high-profile cases, including the rape and murder of a schoolgirl in 2015, off Jaffna peninsula.

Last week, the Criminal Investigations Department arrested senior DIG Lalith Jayasinghe on charges of helping a suspect in the case.

Saturday’s incident, in which the Tamil judge was reportedly targeted, appears to have sparked anxiety among politicians and lawyers in the island’s north.

Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran expressed serious concern over the officer’s death and condemned the attack. The Tamil National Alliance, the main political formation representing northern Tamils, has urged the police to bring the perpetrators to justice and “investigate the conspiracies” behind the incident, while pointing to incidents of crime reaching “serious levels” in Jaffna peninsula.