Overseas travel stopped for 704 CID officers

April 20, 2024

political Current Affairs

Overseas travel stopped for 704 CID officers

November 26, 2019

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Director has made a request through the Immigration and Emigration Department to suspend the overseas travel of over 700 CID staff members.Accordingly, the Immigration and Emigration Department has taken measures to feed the information of 704 CID personnel to the BIA computer network preventing them from leaving the country.This step had been taken subsequent to the OIC of the CID IP Nishantha Silva leaving the country without notifying the Police Department.

Police Headquarters has ordered the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to launch an immediate inquiry into the departure of the Inspector of Police (IP) Adrian Nishantha Silva from the Katunayake BIA on Sunday afternoon without obtaining proper approval.Police Media Spokesman SSP Ruwan Gunasekara said that the IP had left the country without obtaining prior approval from the Police Department.The SSP confirmed that IP Nishantha Silva attached to the CID left the country with his family to Switzerland, on Sunday afternoon (24) without obtaining prior approval to travel overseas.He noted that in the event a police officer needs to travel overseas for official purposes or personal reasons, he first needs to obtain the approval of the Ministry Secretary. However, IP Silva had not obtained any approval prior to his departure.

Silva has been involved in several controversial investigation cases within the CID and he had come under fire for having conducted these investigations in an allegedly partial manner during the past four years. Hence, several quarters had called for an independent investigation into the conduct of this officer. However, he had fled the country prior to any investigation being initiated. The Police Spokesman noted that it is notable that he had fled the country at a time when no move had been made regarding any investigation against him.

Therefore, SSP Gunasekara said that Nishantha Silva was an officer who was handling several high profile cases on behalf of the CID and he was the OIC in charge.Hence,his sudden departure without any approval or notification has raised many serious issues.Under such circumstances, the Police Headquarters had notified the CID Director calling for an inquiry and a report from the CID on the matter considering the gravity of the incident. The police Spokesman also added that as the action taken by IP Nishantha Silva to leave the country without prior notification is a serious offence, disciplinary action would be initiated against him by the Police Department.