Overview

• Thushara Upuldeniya, Commissioner General of Prisons, and Mohan Karunarathna, head of Anuradhapura jail, were suspended and arrested on Monday over alleged pardon-process abuses.
• Both officials were produced before a Colombo Additional Magistrate on Tuesday and remanded in custody until Wednesday, June 11.
• The CID initiated its inquiry after uncovering discrepancies that led to the early release of convicts deemed ineligible for presidential pardon.
• President Anura Kumara Dissanayake ordered the probe following opposition concerns that a specific convict was freed despite not appearing on the approved pardon list.
• Article 34(1) of the Sri Lankan Constitution requires a strict judicial procedure for all presidential amnesties, prompting questions about procedural violations.