SRI LANKA — Major General (retd.) Tuan Suresh Sallay, former State Intelligence Service Director, was arrested in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. Sri Lanka's National People's Power (NPP) government is conducting the investigation, and Sallay was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

The Easter Sunday attacks occurred on April 21, 2019, and resulted in the deaths of over 260 people. Sallay has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyers and political defenders assert that the case against him is politically motivated, and his family has voiced concerns regarding his health and detention conditions.

In 2025, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated that the Easter Sunday bombings were a tragedy used to seize power. He informed Parliament that the government would find the truth about the attacks even if evidence had been destroyed. Dissanayake also warned that no rogue elements within the police or armed forces would be exempt from the investigation.

Shani Abeysekara, who was the director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the time of the attacks, was reappointed to that role after the NPP assumed power. Abeysekara had been removed from the CID after Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidential election in November 2019. Investigations conducted by Abeysekara led to 38 of the approximately 41 High Court cases filed concerning the attacks; only three such cases were filed after his removal from the CID.

Azad Maulana, a former aide to Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (also known as Pillayan), alleged that intelligence officers maintained contact with extremist actors before the attacks. Pillayan served as the former chief minister of the Eastern Province. In May 2019, a suspect reportedly provided information to investigators about contacts between Zahran Hashim's group and Pillayan.