Sri Lankan security chief arrested

The case highlights sensitivities over role of security forces

Sri Lankan have police arrested the commander of the Presidential Security Division (PSD), Nihal Karunaratne.

There were serious discrepancies in the medical certificate produced by Karunaratne

Sri Lankan official

A magistrate issued a warrant of arrest after Mr Karunaratne failed to appear at a court to face charges of alleged attempts to murder a prominent politician.

The politician, SB Dissanayake, defected from President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party last year and joined the party of the current Prime Minister, Ranil Wickramasinghe.

This is the first time such a senior serving aide to the president has been charged with criminal offence.

His arrest means Mr Karunaratne is being suspended from the country's police force.

Political dispute

Mr Karunaratne's representatives presented a medical certificate at the court on Tuesday, but the presiding magistrate rejected it.

Tension exists between president and prime minister

An official said: "There were serious discrepancies in the medical certificate presented by Karunaratne and the magistrate noted that he had failed to turn up in the court on two previous occasions."

Mr Karunaratne is accused of issuing death threats to a police officer inquiring into alleged assassination attempts on Mr Dissanayake just before general elections in December.

President Kumaratunga's party lost the elections and an electoral front led by Mr Wickramasinghe then came to power.

Mr Dissanayake, once a Kumaratunga confidante, is now Parliamentary Affairs Minister in the present cabinet.

Nine men including five presidential guards have been implicated in the alleged assassination plot against Mr Dissanayake.

If convicted, Mr Karunaratne could face a 20-year prison sentence.

Mutual accusations

Since his defection from the president's party, Mr Dissanayake has accused the PSD of involvement in pre-election violence against the president's opponents.

President Kumaratunga herself has said Mr Dissanayake, while a member of her cabinet, had suggested that newspaper editors critical of the government be killed.

Mr Dissanayake has made the same allegations against the president.

Mrs Kumaratunga, whose uncle and nephews have been arrested on murder charges, has complained of a "witch hunt" against her aides.