The wife of the former Sri Lankan intelligence chief arrested in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings has alleged harassment by the Criminal Investigation Department.
Suresh Sallay, a retired major general and former head of Sri Lanka’s State Intelligence Service, was detained by the police on February 25, as part of a reopened investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.
It was a series of coordinated suicide attacks on churches and luxury hotels that killed 270 people, including foreign nationals, and wounded hundreds more.
In the letter sent to the National Authority for the Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses on Saturday (June 20), Sallay’s wife, Manori Sallay, complained of threats to her son and daughter from continued Criminal Investigation Department (CID) surveillance.
According to the letter, after her son and daughter paid a visit to their father, who is currently in hospital, they were followed by a CID official.
Sallay was transferred to a hospital earlier this month after a letter addressed to the inspector general of police by his wife alleged that her husband was subjected to “torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”
“I’ve been informed by my children that upon leaving the hospital premises, a CID officer has entered the lift with them and appeared to follow them”, she said.
When the children got into their vehicle, they observed the same man standing nearby to take their photos, she added, terming the incident as alarming.
These actions appear calculated to intimidate, harass and create fear and anxiety in my children and me, she said in the letter.
The allegations could not be independently verified.
Sallay is among the most senior former security officials to be detained in connection with the attacks.
Published – June 21, 2026 09:21 pm IST
