President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday (07) called for a full report on the incident at the Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre in Welikanda, Polonnaruwa that occurred yesterday (06).
The President’s Media Division said that the President has also issued instructions on the steps that need to be taken to avert a recurrence of such incidents.
The directives were issued following discussions with Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe.
A brawl broke out between two groups at the Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre yesterday with several inmates fleeing the rehabilitation facility.
Speaking to NewsWire, Military Spokesperson Brigadier Ravi Herath said that the brawl had initially broken out between two inmates while bathing, which had later escalated into a violent situation between two groups.
He said the conflicting parties had then attempted to enter the armoury at the Rehabilitation Centre, during which Army personnel at the premises had fired shots into the air to de-escalate the situation.
“Four inmates and an Army Soldier had sustained injuries in the incident. They have been admitted to the Polonnaruwa Hospital. All injured persons are in stable condition,” he revealed.
Brigadier Ravi Herath further said that the Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre holds a total of 547 inmates and among them, 302 are accounted for following the incident yesterday.
However, around 50-75 inmates are reported to have fled the centre and the Sri Lanka Army has set up roadblocks and launched other measures to apprehend them.
Even though the situation has been contained, the group within the Rehabilitation Centre is preventing access to the Military and Police personnel. It has also come to light that the inmates had set fire to the belongings of Army personnel who were stationed within the Rehabilitation Centre, he said.
The Military Spokesman said that the Police are in the process of entering the facility after which they will take a count on the inmates and ascertain further details. (NewsWire)