Megapolis and Western Province Development Minister Champika Ranawaka who denied his involvement in an accident in Rajagiriya, is in hot water as new evidence has surfaced confirming his involvement which left one person critically injured and in ICU.
An eyewitness account detailing the accident on Sunday night, claimed that the vehicle, a Nissan Patrol which knocked the bike driver around 10 p.m. at Rajagiriya was in fact been driven by Ranawaka.
“Soon after the accident happened, the driver of the Nissan Patrol sped away, but we followed him and when we stopped and I got down to go and assault him, the driver said ‘I am Champika Ranawaka, don’t assault me, it is my fault, let’s go to the Borella police station,” a friend of the victim said.
But, the eyewitness said he did not want to risk going with the Minister, as he did not know what will happen to him and instead demanded the Minister’s ID card, who had refused to give it to him.
“Anyway, we went to the police (on our own) immediately to lodge a complaint and even our statements were taken only many hours later, and that too in a book that looked like some receipt book, and our statement was written in one of the last pages,” the eyewitness said.
According to him when they went the next day to follow up on the case, the police had informed them that the person who drove the vehicle had surrendered and he was produced in court and bailed out. “We saw the vehicle but even the license plate number was covered. We don’t know who surrendered even, and when the victim is still in ICU, how can they grant the culprit bail,” he questioned.
Meanwhile in a letter addressed to the Inspector General of Police, three Parliamentarians; Shehan Semasinghe, Kanchana Wijesekara and D. V. Chanaka queried whether the police had checked the CCTV camera’s following the accident to verify the culprit.
“The police must understand that it is their responsibility to bring the actual culprit to book. Law should be the same to everyone. We call upon you to ensure that an impartial investigation is carried out so the public’s confidence in the law will be upheld,” the letter stated in the letter addressed to N. K. Illangakoon today.
Audio of an eyewitness account:
Bandula / March 6, 2016
What is this rush to defame Champika. I am not a supporter of Champika but I want a country rid of all the misgivings of previous regime. Firstly how can a 1000cc motorbyke be put on the road. These were imported during Namal’s time fpr road races. The guys who imported these bykes are Rajapaksha stooges. So the the person who was riding the byke should be charged according to traffic laws. The friends who rode alongside are his side kiks and they were arrogant guys who chased after the vehicle to assault the driver as they themself claim. Good enough a hit and run driver should not be allowed to escape. However the driver has claimed he is Champika but they don’t claim to have seen him or identified him. So is this a frame up.
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anil / March 6, 2016
“So is this a frame up ” . Did you watch and listen to it carefully.
Their body language seems to suggest that they are telling it as it was.
They surely have identified it was Champika after they stopped him from running away. It would have helped if they had taken pictures.
You should be more worried about the eye witnesses.
‘all the misgivings of previous regime ‘ much of it still remain.
Hope it all goes to court and there is no coverup and no harm comes to the eye witnesses.
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Repentance / March 6, 2016
“Law should be the same to everyone.”
At the same time the media should have the intelligence, wisdom and some sense that this event need not appear as headlines everyday and have more of a coverage that other more important stuff. For now it seems very likely that the Minister is involved would be proven to be guilty…but this shouldn’t be headlines worthy. If law is now the norm, these events (Ministers being proven guilty for some crime) should also be seen as normal.
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BBS Rep / March 7, 2016
Champaka is a known liar. Check out what he said during his infamous speech in Paris.
And now you can add ‘gutless’ to his name if he really was the hit and run driver.
He should have stopped. After all it was a traffic accident. The police should have worked out who was at fault. If Champika was found to be at fault he should be penalised. And Champika should acknowledge the courts decision. That way people would not lose their respect for him.
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Roger / March 7, 2016
Can the police confirm the engine capacity of the bike? Can the police confirm if the bike can be used on the roads of sri lanka? Can the polce confirm whether the bike hit the rear side of the vehicle supposed to be driven by the said minister.
These could cinfirm the guilty be it the minister or the rider.
Please establish these facts and let the system decide.
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sarojini / March 16, 2016
Even better to go by the CCTV evidence . Why is the police scared to get the CCTV footage . Simple end to the stories. Also do they need time to fiddle the results ?
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Jayan / March 7, 2016
This man Champika is a typical Sri Lankan politician. He has no guts to admit his mistake and trying his very best to cover up the issue. This should be the end of political career of Champika Patali Ranawaka.
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F. N.DeAlwis / March 9, 2016
Were there cctv cameras at this scene ?Who are the eye wittnesses ? Can any one identify a driver as most of these vehicles are with darkwindows.One must not come to coclussions withou accurate evidence
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Jayantha / March 12, 2016
KD7545 is a Suzuki DBA-ZC11 S (2005) motor car. :-)
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