Rifkhan Bathiudeen, the brother of former minister Rishad Bathiudeen has written to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Easter Attacks categorically denying the allegation leveled by a TV channel.
He noted that TV Derana had mentioned his name with regard to helping the leader of the Easter Sunday attack Zahran Hashim to flee the country in 2018.
Rifkhan noted that on Derana's breakfast show programme 'Derana Aruna,' it was read out that he helped Zahran Hashim abscond from Sri Lanka to India by boat.
"This is to inform the commission that during the ‘Derana Aruna – Sri Lanka’s Breakfast Show’ conducted today at 6.55 am via the Derana TV Channel, it was read out that one of the brothers of former minister Rishad Bathiudeen named Rifkhan Bathiudeen who is presently under the detention of the Criminal Investigation Department had assisted Zahran Hashim who led the suicide bombers squad of the Easter Sunday attacks to flee from the island through a boat to India in 2018 while he was issued an arrest warrant by the courts," he said.
It was further stated that this was revealed to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Easter Attacks by a former Director of the Sri Lanka Intelligence Service. This news has also been picked up by several media channels and websites.
However, while reiterating that he had never met Zahran Hashim, he said that it is younger brother Riyaj Bathiudeen who is presently in CID custody and not him as read out by Derana.
"First of all, I wish to state that this news is totally false and it is our younger brother Riyaj Bathiudeen who is only presently under the detention of the CID. I also would affirm that neither he nor I had personally met Zahran Hashim at least once," he noted.
"We as a family who were forcibly evicted by the LTTE in 1990, have always acted in a manner to eradicate terrorism. This nature of fake news which is being published via reputed media firms is extremely in contradiction with media ethics. The media should have the utmost responsibility to convey the genuine message or news to the public," Rifkhan said.
He further said that the Commission is now being involved in a tremendous service towards identifying the exact motives and the convicts involved with the act.
"However, these types of news articles at this circumstance which is being publicized without any clear evidence will undoubtedly mislead the public and be a hindrance for the genuine investigations of the Commission," he added.
Rifkhan also requested an opportunity to produce evidence to the Presidential Commission.
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