Sri Lanka: 3 arrested for setting Ranil's private residence ablaze

COLOMBO: Three suspects were arrested on Tuesday by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Sri Lanka for allegedly setting ablaze President Ranil Wickremesinghe's private residence in Colombo on July 9, according to local media reports.

According to the police, as reported by the Daily Mirror, two of the three suspects were aged 18 and 22 and belonged to Madapatha and Colombo respectively. They were detained yesterday in the Piliyandala and Narahenpita areas. The details of the third suspect were not immediately available.

Four suspects were previously detained by the police in connection with the incident, and the Colombo Fort Magistrate's Court remanded them until August 10, reported the Daily Mirror.

A group of protesters on July 9 had entered the private residence of Wickremesinghe and set it on fire, hours after he offered to resign as prime minister, to make way for an all-party government amid unprecedented protests in the country for the resignation of the government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The protestors entered 73-year-old Wickremesinghe's house on 5th Lane in Colombo and set the place on fire following a tense situation that erupted between the protestors and security forces on the ground.