Deshabandu Tennakoon, Inspector General of Police of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, surrendered to the Magistrate’s Court in Matara on the morning of 19 March. He had unbelievably evaded what was described as a massive, concerted police hunt for near 21 days. Of course, if the hunt had been so massive, concerted and an all-out attempt, he could barely have evaded being caught, Sri Lanka being so small in size, and its people ever ready to spill the beans or sneak, more so when tempted with a hefty monetary reward.
But he did hide or was very cleverly hidden by one/those indebted to him. The latter impossible to believe since who would put his neck in the noose set for such a rescuer, more particularly a top bod for whom Deshabandu would have helped. Anyway, he is now in remand prison, and justice will be meted out; or so we expect.
The man the ex-IGP was Tisaranee Gunasekara’s article on his escape and hiding was brilliant in the Sunday Island newspaper of 16th as she compared the ex IGP to T S Elliot’s Macavity the Cat. Her title was: Macavity IGP and the Complicit State and her article encapsulated within it the entire drama. What Cass remembers is how he was given the IGP post in spite of the Supreme Court finding him guilty of torturing some convicts in police custody.
He was handpicked by the previous government to catch druggies but only netted in droves of small time peddlers and drug takers. The big timers, more so the king pin-peddlers and push.
