MONETABRIEF – Sri Lanka's deadliest single terrorist attack against civilians was organised by Suresh Sallay, former head of the State Intelligence Service, with the help of three others yet to be named, the Colombo Fort Magistrate was told.
The Criminal Investigations Department made the disclosure in a fresh submission to Magistrate Pasan Amarasena on Wednesday, when an application by former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to have his foreign travel ban lifted was taken up.
Although Rajapaksa has not been named a suspect in the April 2019 attack that killed at least 279 people and wounded more than 500, investigators have identified him as a person of interest and have had his passport impounded by the court.
The CID told the magistrate that they were working on a theory that Sallay masterminded the bombing of three churches and three luxury hotels with the assistance of three others.
This information emerged from statements made by three police officers and a former Tamil Tiger member, Asad Maulana.
The three officers whose statements the CID referred to were the former Inspector-General, the late Chandana Wickramaratne, retired Deputy Inspector-General Prasad Ranasinghe and Deputy Inspector-General Nishantha Soysa, who is still in service.
Maulana, who is based in Europe, had given a statement to the CID in France following his public claims that Sallay was directly linked to the Easter bombings and that the former intelligence chief had been in close contact with the suicide bombers.
The CID also informed the court that its investigations had been stalled because Sallay had fallen ill and had been in hospital for over four months since his arrest in February.
Sallay has refused to provide passwords for his mobile phone and other electronic devices. He had told the court he could not remember the passwords because he changed them every two weeks.
Sallay has also denied the allegations against him.
Court records also show that Sallay has been accused of orchestrating the attacks to create instability in the country and to clear the way for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to emerge as the law-and-order candidate at the November 2019 presidential election.
Rajapaksa won the presidency and immediately appointed Sallay head of the State Intelligence Service. Earlier, Sallay had been head of military intelligence, which is also implicated in the Easter bombings.
The Fort Magistrate said an order on the request to temporarily lift the foreign travel ban imposed on Rajapaksa would be issued on November 25.
Rajapaksa's lawyers said he needed to return to a hospital in Singapore for further treatment following heart surgery. (Colombo/Nov5/2026)