Police have launched a special investigation to find out whether there is a planned conspiracy to provoke Buddhists by insulting the Buddha, the “Aruna” newspaper reported.

The newspaper said that this investigation has been initiated following the alleged insulting statement made by Pastor Jerome Fernando and Natasha Edrisooriya.

Government sources said that the government led by President Ranil Wickremesinghe is paying special attention to this matter and that a special discussion will be held in this regard under the chairmanship of the President today (29).

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chandana Wickramaratne has instructed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to carry out an impartial investigation regarding the two incidents related to the statements made by Fernando and Edirisooriya.

There was great uproar among the Buddhists following the statement made by Pastor Fernando who has fled the country since.

When the CID was investigating this incident, a standup comedian by the name Natasha Edirisooriya, who hosted a comedy programme called ‘Modabhimanaya’ at a popular school in Colombo, had made several statements allegedly insulting the Buddha.

The woman in question was arrested by the CID on Saturday night at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Katunayake when she was about to travel to Singapore.

Edirisooriya, who is under the CID custody, was ordered to be remanded until June 7 after being produced in the Fort Magistrate’s Court yesterday (28).

However, she has told the CID that her statement was not a deliberate one. She has also apologized if her remarks had offended any Buddhist.

Dilith also accused

Meanwhile, people have expressed their opinions on social media platforms saying that an independent investigation should be launched into Derana TV and Aruna Newspapers Chairman Dilith Jayaweera and Samantabhadra Thera as well for making similar statements some time ago.

However, opposing views have been raised whether this is a plot to arrest Jayaweera since he has expressed willingness to contest the upcoming presidential election.

Facebook posts posted against Mr. Jayaweera.

Meanwhile, Derana TV presenter Sankha Amarjit Perera has also been blamed for criticizing Natasha by highlighting her arrest without saying a word about Derana Chairman who had allegedly made similar statements insulting Buddhism.