The Police has suspended a Chief Inspector (CI) of Police and transferred two other officers in relation to the recent incident of the abduction of an 18-year-old schoolgirl in the Hapugahayata Thenna area of Daulagala, Kandy.

The decision follows allegations of dereliction of duty of the officers in question, the Police said. The disciplinary measures were ordered by Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Lalith Pathinayake, who is in charge of the Central Province. These actions come in the wake of an internal investigation into the incident, which took place on 19 January, according to the Police.

According to reports, an officer attached to the Gampola Police, who was passing by the scene during the abduction, had informed the Daulagala Police Operations Room regarding the incident. However, the Daulagala Police had allegedly failed to respond to the alert, leading to the current disciplinary actions.

The suspended CI had been serving as the Acting Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Daulagala Police Station at the time of the incident. Additionally, a Woman CI and a Sub-Inspector (SI) of Police have been transferred to other Police stations. The Woman CI has been assigned to the Kadugannawa Police Station, while the SI, who served as the Crimes OIC of the Police Station, has been transferred to the Welamboda Police Station.