Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed as acting President: Speaker
Colombo (PTI): Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the country's acting President after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on a military jet on Wednesday in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the economy that has bankrupted the country.
Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced that President Rajapaksa has appointed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to act to perform his functions while he is abroad.
This was under article 37(1) of the Constitution, he said.
Meanwhile, the protesters who had arrived in large numbers at the PM Office have surrounded the building. The PM Office had earlier corrected that a state of emergency would only be declared after his appointment as the acting President. The curfew, however, was in force.
The Prime Minister has also ordered the security forces to arrest people acting in a riotous manner.
President Rajapaksa, 73, left the country along with his wife and two security officers on a military jet, a brief statement from the Sri Lanka Air Force said.
On Saturday, Rajapaksa had announced to step down on Wednesday after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence, blaming him for the unprecedented economic crisis that has brought the country to its knees.
As the news of Rajapaksa's departure spread, an enthusiastic crowd gathered in Galle Face Green chanting the popular phrase Aragalayata Jayawewa, or Victory to the struggle in Sinhalese and "Go home Gota".
The Police fired tear gas on protesters who had gathered near the PM office. The protesters broke through a barricade despite tear gas and stormed the prime minister's office, calling for his resignation.
The protesters continue to occupy the three main buildings in the capital, the President's House, the presidential secretariat and the prime minister's official residence, Temple Trees, calling for their resignations.
Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe last week said Sri Lanka is now a bankrupt country.
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Bengaluru: Two booked for disabling 240 CCTV cameras at Chinnaswamy Stadium
Bengaluru (PTI): An FIR has been registered against two persons for allegedly tampering with the CCTV surveillance system at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on the day of the RCB versus GT IPL match on April 24, police said on Monday.
The accused, identified as Manjunath (37) and Abdul Kalam (19), allegedly entered the stadium without valid authorisation, reportedly by misusing a deactivated access card, and tampered with critical surveillance infrastructure, they said.
The complaint was lodged by Aditya Bhat of Staqu Technologies Pvt Ltd, which provides AI-driven surveillance support during match days, police said.
According to the FIR, more than 240 cameras went offline on the morning of the match.
The two, said to be associated with subcontractor IVS Digital Solutions, allegedly damaged Network Video Recorder (NVR) systems and optical fibre connections, disrupting surveillance coverage in key security zones, including entry gates and perimeter areas.
The accused allegedly entered the CCTV room without proper access and later moved to a junction box near the parking area, where fibre connections were damaged, the FIR stated.
The alleged sabotage affected the availability of surveillance feeds required by police personnel deployed for match security, it added.
A senior police officer said that on the morning of April 24, at around 11.30 am, the two employees, working under a sub-vendor providing digital services during match days, carried out the act.
According to him, the accused duo damaged CCTV fibre connections and a video recorder. The issue was detected and rectified within an hour.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the two employees may have had a personal grudge against the company, possibly related to pending payments, which may have led them to commit the act, he said.
“Both accused have been identified, and further action will be taken soon. All CCTVs were restored within an hour, and the disruption did not impact match proceedings,” he added.
