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Sri Lanka’s former Health Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, walked into the Criminal Investigations Department in Colombo on Friday (2) morning, complying with a Court Order issued a day earlier and was subsequently arrested.
The minister was arrested after recording a lengthy statement that took hours to complete. He was arrested in connection with the controversial human immunoglobulin procurement scandal.
Civil society activists, who had been clamoring for days, shouted in joy upon receiving the news that the minister had been arrested.
They said, ‘We respect the judiciary.’
The police had been criticized for taking such a long time to arrest Keheliya Rambukwella, despite evidence naming him as a suspect. Several civil activists accused of conducting demonstrations against the former minister were arrested and produced in court.
A woman among the protesters, who was arrested during the demonstrations, poured a bottle of milk on herself to fulfill a vow and said, ‘This is a beautiful day, and we are going to celebrate Independence Day because we are independent.'”
