Mervyn’s TV brawl: CID turns focus on Rupavahini staff

By Madhushala Senaratne

CID detectives are grilling Rupavahini employees on how the brawl involving Minister Mervyn Silva and his bodyguards was telecast live over the national TV. CID Director D.W. Prathapasinghe said that the misuse of public property was one of the aspects under investigation. Offences under the Public Property Act are non-bailable.

Mervyn Silva after the SLRC brawl

The CID chief said other aspects of last month’s brawl were also being investigated. Top ranking officers and other media personnel of SLRC including the staff at the News department, engineering department and security officers who were present during the incident have been regularly questioned by the CID. The staff said they feared that the intention of the ongoing questioning was to incriminate them over the incident.

According to an officer of the Rupavahini Sanstha Sevaka Sangamaya, the nature of questioning has changed with the action of the staff been the main focus now. The staff were being questioned over the telecasting of the incident, who authorized its live telecast and why other media networks were allowed into the premises to report the brawl. He said the detectives were alleging that telecasting the Mervyn Silva brawl had led to a loss of advertising revenue to the tune of about Rs. 5 million.

On Friday, Minister Silva’s bodyguard, Nuwan Gunathilake alias Kudu Nuwan who was arrested for allegedly assaulting the News Director was granted bail by the Colombo Chief Magistrate. Defence counsel Anton Senanayake said this was a case that could be settled at the mediation board.