Monitor Memo

CHENNAI — Tamil Nadu police have registered cases against at least 17 foreign nationals, including a Sri Lankan citizen, on suspicion of casting votes in the state’s recently concluded Legislative Assembly elections despite holding foreign passports and having no legal right to vote in India, officials said. The individuals, passport holders from Sri Lanka, Canada, and Australia, were detained at Chennai and Madurai airports by immigration officers who noticed indelible election ink marks on th

R. Senthil Velavar, the Editor-in-Chief of Sri Lanka’s state-run Tamil daily Thinakaran, was suspended by Lake House management this week over allegations of financial misconduct, according to sources within the institution. The suspension follows an internal investigation into claims that Senthil Velavar misappropriated advertising revenue by personally collecting payments for advertisements but, instead of publishing the paid advertisements as contracted, allegedly replacing them with news co

Sri Lanka’s opposition United National Party (UNP) on Tuesday criticized President Anura Kumara Dissanayake for personally congratulating newly elected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, arguing that the move departed from established diplomatic convention and raised questions about political selectivity. In a statement, the UNP said it was “surprising” that Sri Lanka’s Head of State had publicly extended congratulations to a foreign state-level leader, contending that such formal gestu

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka has begun implementation of a major Indian grant-funded healthcare project in Mullaitivu, where a new four-story medical ward complex will be built at the District General Hospital under a 600 million Sri Lankan rupee assistance package from the Government of India. The project follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha and Sri Lanka’s Acting Health Secretary Dr. W.K. Wickremasinghe during Indian Vice President C.P. Radh

COLOMBO — A senior Sri Lankan opposition parliamentarian has claimed that the recent removal of the country's cricket board leadership was orchestrated through a behind-the-scenes agreement among President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and International Cricket Council Chairman Jay Shah. Dayasiri Jayasekara, a Samagi Jana Balawegaya lawmaker and former Sports Minister, made the allegation during an appearance on the political talk show Derana 360 last week, sayi

Police Investigate Whether Blaze Was Accidental or Deliberate; Cancer Drugs Among the Losses JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A major fire tore through the pharmaceutical warehouse of Jaffna Teaching Hospital in the early hours of Saturday, destroying medicines and medical equipment worth several billion rupees, including cancer treatment drugs and other critical-care pharmaceuticals, in what officials are calling one of the worst disasters in the hospital's history. The blaze began at approximately 1:30 a

ANURADHAPURA, Sri Lanka — A chief magistrate in Sri Lanka on Friday ordered the immediate arrest of one of the country’s most senior Buddhist monks over allegations of grave sexual abuse involving a 15-year-old girl, in a case that has shaken both religious and legal institutions. Chief Magistrate Siyapath Sasindu Wickramaratne of Anuradhapura directed police to arrest Ven. Pallegama Hemarathana Thera, the Chief Incumbent of the Atamasthana, which comprises the eight most sacred Buddhist sites

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Kapila Chandrasena, the former chief executive of SriLankan Airlines who faced corruption charges in one of Sri Lanka’s most consequential bribery investigations, was found dead on Friday morning at the Colombo residence of his brother-in-law, the former Sri Lankan cricket star Aravinda de Silva, according to police and information obtained by Jaffna Monitor. Mr. Chandrasena, 58, was found hanging inside the residence on Pedris Place in Kollupitiya, police said. Authorities