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COLOMBO: Sri Lankan police arrested a party leader of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa on Mo­­­n­­day for allegedly issuing a death threat against the police chief, officers said.

Sagara Kariyawasam, the General-Secretary of the Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP), was taken into custody, the latest in a list of associates of relatives of the once-untouchable Rajapaksa political dynasty to be arrested.

The leftist government of President Anura Kum­ara Dissanayake came to power in Septe­mber 2024 on a promise to crack down on bribery and graft.

Kariyawasam, at a press conference in Colombo last week, warned Inspector General of Police Priya­ntha Weerasooriya that he could be killed if he continued to be partisan. Weerasooriya “considers this a death threat”, a police official said.