Sri Lanka’s ex-intelligence chief Sallay arrested for ‘conspiracy’ linked to 2019 Easter Sunday bombings

Retd Major General Suresh Sallay was accused of having prior knowledge of the attacks and allowing it to influence the presidential elections in favour of Rajapakasa.

Demonstrators holding placards at a protest to demand justice for the April 2019 Easter Sunday bomb attack, on its third anniversary, near Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on 17 April 2022 | Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

New Delhi: Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department Wednesday arrested the country’s former intelligence chief, Retd Major General Suresh Sallay, for “conspiracy and aiding and abetting” the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. His is the first high profile arrest in the case since President Anura Kumara Dissanayake took office in September 2024.

In his pre-poll campaign, Dissanayake had pledged justice for the victims of the attacks.

Sallay was picked up at dawn Wednesday and has denied the charges, Sri Lankan media reported, adding that he was arrested under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), “based on adequate evidence”.

Simultaneous ISIS-orchestrated suicide bombings at Easter congregations at three churches, and three hotels, rocked Colombo on 21 April 2019, killing 253 people including 45 foreign nationals and injuring at least 500.

In 2023, British broadcaster Channel 4 reported that Sallay was allegedly linked to the bombers and had met them before the attack.

According to a whistleblower’s testimony, he allowed the attackers to proceed with the attack in order to influence 2019’s presidential elections in Gotabaya Rajapakasa’s favour. Rajapakasa announced his candidacy two days later and went on to secure a landslide victory.

Sallay was the first military officer to be made chief of Sri Lanka’s apex intelligence agency. He was promoted to the State Intelligence Service (SIS) in 2019 soon after Rajapakasa took over as President.

“The arrest of Suresh Sallay raises serious concerns about the direction in which national discourse is heading. National security institutions cannot become collateral damage in political contests. Undermining officers who once safeguarded the country may offer temporary political advantage, but it weakens morale within the armed forces and sends a troubling signal to those tasked with protecting the nation,” former minister Ali Sabry said, commenting on the arrest.

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)