Sri Lanka’s former Industry and Commerce minister Rishad Bathiudeen and his brother Riyadh have been arrested for allegedly providing help to terrorists who carried out the dastardly Easter Sunday bombing attacks in April 2019, Ajith Rohana police spokesman said on Saturday. ANI reported that more than 100 people have been already arrested in connection with the bombings.
A former cabinet minister, Bathiudeen, at present, leads an opposition party in Sri Lanka's Parliament.
Rohana said that the two have been arrested by the country's Criminal Investigations Department (CID). "They were arrested by the CID on the charges of aiding and abetting the suicide bombers responsible for the 2019 April 21st attacks," Rohana said.
According to Australia based 9News, Rohana said “the brothers have not yet been officially charged but were arrested based on direct evidence, as well as what he called circumstantial and ‘scientific’ evidence.”
The 9News report said that Rushdhie Habeeb, a lawyer representing Bathiudeen, has called arrests politically motivated. "No reasons for the arrest had been given at the time of their arrest by those who conducted the midnight raid," the news organisation quoted Habeeb as saying.
On April 21, 2019, over 250 people were killed and hundreds injured after a series of bomb blasts across Colombo. Over 40 foreigners were also killed in the incident. The Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the incident.
