C. D. Wickramaratne | |
Office: | 35th Inspector General of Police |
Term Start: | 25 November 2020 |
Term End: | 25 November 2023 |
Predecessor: | Pujith Jayasundara |
Successor: | Deshabandu Tennakoon |
Birthname: | Chandana Deepal Wickramaratne |
Birth Date: | 26 March 1963 |
Profession: | Police officer |
Chandana Deepal Wickramaratne (born 26 March 1963) is a retired Sri Lankan police officer. He is a former Inspector General of Sri Lankan Police.
Chandana Wickramaratne was born on 26 March 1963 and received his school education at Ananda College, Colombo. After his graduation from University of Colombo with a degree in physical sciences he joined the Sri Lanka Police service on 16 June 1986, beginning his career as an Intelligence Officer with the rank of ASP.
He has successfully completed a M.Sc (Defence Studies in Management) at General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Ratmalana in 2006, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Conflict Resolution and Security Studies from University of Bradford in 2006. He has also completed the 'Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) Course on Building State Capability' at University of Harvard in 2016.
Wickramaratne served as the Senior Deputy Inspector General of South before his appointment to the post of IGP. On the 26 April 2019, President Maithripala Sirisena ordered the then Inspector General of Police, Pujith Jayasundara, to resign over intelligence failures that led to the fatal Easter bomb attacks.[1] Jayasundara refused to resign and was put on compulsory leave with Wickramaratne appointed as the acting Inspector General.[2] [3] The temporary appointment became a controversy as Jayasundara denied the allegations levelled against him by the President filed a court case against the government regarding the intelligence lapse.
Wickramaratne was a Senior Deputy Inspector General, when he was appointed to the role of acting Inspector-General of Police, when the incumbent, Jayasundara, was suspended following the 2019 Easter bombings.[4] On 13 May 2019, C. D. Wickramaratne was approved to work as acting IGP by the Constitutional Council.[5] [6] He was confirmed in the position on 25 November 2020 and served till his retirement on 25 November 2023.[7]
He also ordered a special investigation to probe statements made by former LTTE cadre Karuna Amman, who claimed to have killed more than 3000 army soldiers at the Elephant Pass during the civil war. He further claimed that Amman was more dangerous than the COVID-19 pandemic.[8] [9]
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