Colombo, Oct 4 (PTI) At least 24 terror suspects, including the mastermind Naufer Moulavi, have been indicted by a Sri Lankan court here in connection with the deadly 2019 Easter Sunday attacks that killed over 270 people, including 11 Indians, court officials said on Monday.
The indictments at the permanent High Court trial followed the chargesheets that had been filed in August. These included Naufer Moulavi, who was identified as the mastermind of the attack. There were over 23,270 charges.
Nine suicide bombers, belonging to local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS, carried out a series of blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels in Sri Lanka, killing 258 people, including 11 Indians, and injuring over 500 on the Easter Sunday on April 21, 2019.
Sri Lankan police have arrested hundreds of suspects in connection with the suicide bombings.
The coordinated attacks drew outrage as it was said that the authorities had ignored prior intelligence on the impending attacks.
The Buddhist-majority nation was about to mark a decade since ending a 37-year-long Tamil separatist war in May 2009 when the suicide bombings in 2019 rocked the country.
The attacks caused a political storm as the then government headed by President Maithirpala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was blamed for its inability to prevent the deadly attacks despite the prior intelligence made available on the impending terror strikes.
During his tenure, Sirisena formed a presidential panel to probe the attacks.
In its report, the panel said that former president Sirisena and a host of other top defence officials, including former defence secretaries, former IGPs and intelligence chiefs, were guilty of ignoring prior intelligence. The panel report recommended criminal action against them.
Both the then-police chief and the top defense bureaucrat were sacked and arrested for their inaction to prevent the attacks. Last month, head of the Catholic church Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith urged the government to take action against Wickremesinghe for his failure as the then prime minister to prevent the attacks.
The attack was the key factor in the change of government in 2019. However, the Catholic Church remains dissatisfied with the pace of the investigations after the new government’s take over.
The church has threatened to take the case internationally as justice does not seem to be delivered to the victims in what they alleged was a cover up for political needs.
The government has denied a cover up and maintains the delay of moving fast was due to compelling reasons due to the complexity of the investigations. The case will be heard on November 23.