The 32nd Inspector General of Police Mahinda Balasuriya passed away at a private hospital in Narahenpita last evening (29). He was 68 years old at the time of his death.
Mr. Balasuriya joined the Police Service as an Assistant Superintendent of Police in 1978 and was appointed as the Inspector General of Police in November 2009. As the 32 Inspector General of Police in this country.
But he was only able to hold the post of IGP until May 2011. He was forced to resign in May 2011, and the Rajapakse government appointed him ambassador to Brazil a few months later. NK Mr. Illangakoon will be appointed IGP in Mahinda Balasuriya’s place.
He also served as the Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and in 2014 Mahinda Balasuriya served as the Secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order.
He had to resign in 2011 during a protest in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone when a youth was shot dead and several others were injured in a protest.
The then-active United Trade Union Alliance (UTUA) on May 24 declared a day of protest against the Rajapakse government’s introduction of the Private Sector Employees’ Pension Benefit Fund Act in Parliament in early April 2011. A very successful agitation was organized in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone.
Minister of Labor and Labor Relations Gamini Lokuge, who met the Katunayake Employees’ Representatives on May 28, responsibly stated that he would not take any action to pass the Bill. But despite the Minister of Labor’s announcement, the distribution of leaflets seeking support for the repeal of the Pension Benefit Fund Act caused unrest in the trade zone. Subsequently, on May 30, 260 workers, including a young worker, Roshen Chanaka, were injured in a police and thug attack that led to a protest by the politicians with the thugs. Roshen Chanaka passed away on June 1. That was because he was shot and injured by the police.
Following the country-wide protests over Roshen’s death, the Mahinda Rajapaksa government ordered the then IGP Mahinda Balasuriya to resign, depriving him of the opportunity to hold the post of IGP for another year to save the government.
He had also removed Lasantha Wickrematunge from the CID and referred him to the Terrorism Investigation Division.