Gota denies any knowledge of Keith Noyahr abduction

Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has told the CID that he was neither  connected to the matter nor did he know any facts relating to the incident where journalist, Keith Noyahr was abducted and assaulted during the last regime.

Police sources revealed that this was the thrust of Rajapaksa’s statement when detectives interviewed him yesterday (12).

A senior officer of the CID told Ceylon Today, that CID officers had questioned Rajapaksa for about three-and-a-half hours from 10 a.m. onwards yesterday.

Noyahr a journalist attached to The Nation newspaper, was allegedly abducted and assaulted by an unknown group on 22 May, 2008.

In relation to the same incident, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa also gave a statement to the CID for over two hours on 17 August at his Wijerama Mawatha residence. The former President told Police that he had no recollection of the incident or the personalities involved.

The CID has also obtained a statement from Speaker Karu Jayasuriya as well in connection with the same incident.

(Source: Ceylon Today – By Niranjala Ariyawansha)