Chief police inspector Varuni Bogahawatta and four others remanded until 20 November

The Matara Chief Magistrate's Court has ordered that five suspects, including Chief Police Inspector Varuni Bogahawatta, who was in charge of the administrative branch of the Kottawila police station in Matara, be remanded until 20 November.

She had been arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department on a charge of failing to disclose the source of the money used to buy a vehicle and to pay its lease instalments.

The lease instalments for the vehicle in question are said to have been paid by a person suspected of involvement in a financial fraud of more than one billion rupees at the Matara cooperative society.

The police said the investigations would be completed and their reports submitted to court on 20 November.