After the protesters entered the presidential palace, a group of university students found Rs. 17.8 million in the cupboard of the room where President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was said to be staying.
The university students have taken steps to take that money into their custody and hand it over to the officer named Nisheda Fernando, Senior Superintendent of Police of the Special Task Force, who was guarding the Presidential Palace at that time.
There he did not accept the amount and informed the Chief Inspector of Police Mr. Sagara Liyanage.
Accordingly, a police team including Mr. Sagara Liyanage went there and videotaped the place where the money was found and recorded the statements of 05 students, and took the money into police custody.
While taking necessary steps to report the money to the court, Senior DIG Deshbandu Tennakoon, who is missing since the night suddenly called the Fort Police Station Commander and told him to hand over the money to the minister in charge of police by tomorrow morning without leaving any notes about the money in the police books.
Police information stated that the Fort Police Station Officer refused and Deshbandu Tennakoon said, “You must do what I told you to do”.
The Fort Police Station Commander has made a police note that Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Deshbandu Tennakoon spoke to him and pressured him. He also informed this situation to Police headquarters. Then the Fort Police Station Commander has received instructions from the police headquarters to not hand over the money to any outsider without consulting the Inspector General of Police.