Protestors find millions in former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s house

Thousands crowd into the President’s house on July 11. Pic/Getty Images

Sri Lankan police have produced before a court millions of rupees in cash found by anti-government protesters inside former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence after he fled the mansion following the mass uprising against his government three weeks ago.

The anti-government protesters on July 9 demanded Rajapaksa's resignation over the island nation's worst economic crisis in recent memory. Amidst the anti-government protests, Rajapaksa fled the country on July 13 to the Maldives and then to Singapore from where he emailed his resignation letter. The protesters recovered 17.85 million Sri Lankan Rupees inside his mansion which were later handed over to the police.

The Superintendent of Police in charge of the Colombo Central Crimes Investigation Division handed over the money to Fort Magistrate's Court on Friday as per its order made on Thursday. Magistrate Thilina Gamage said there is reasonable suspicion as to why the officer in charge (OIC) of the Fort Police failed to produce the money for three weeks. The Magistrate also said the court was not aware of any special circumstances for the money originally given to the Fort Police, to be produced via a Special Police Unit from Slave Island. Magistrate ordered the Inspector General of Police to immediately investigate the delay in producing the money, and submit a report to the court.

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