CID refuses former President Ranil’s request to speak with Pillayan

Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala said that former President Ranil Wickremesinghe's request to speak with detained former State Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, has been refused by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

According to the Minister, one of Wickremesinghe’s security officers contacted CID officials by phone, requesting that the former President be allowed to speak with the detainee. 

However, the Minister said that the request was refused on the grounds that it is illegal to communicate via telephone with a suspect held under a detention order.

Meanwhile, former MP Udaya Gammanpila was recently granted permission to meet Pilleyan.

Gammanpila reportedly made the request in his capacity as the suspect’s legal counsel.

Minister Wijepala said that the meeting was permitted and took place at the CID office under the supervision of CID officers.

Chandrakanthan was arrested by the CID on April 9 in Batticaloa in connection with the abduction and disappearance of Professor Sivasubramaniam Ravindranath, a former Vice-Chancellor of the Eastern University.