Sri Lanka's president ordered the removal of a police chief investigating alleged crimes by the family and associates of his preferred candidate for prime minister Mahinda Rajapakse, officials said Monday.
The Indian Ocean nation has been paralysed since October 26 when President Maithripala Sirisena controversially sacked prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former rival Rajapakse.
Wickremesinghe insists he is still prime minister, leading to a constitutional deadlock in the Indian Ocean nation.
In the latest twist in the ongoing crisis, Chief Inspector Nishantha Silva was transferred from the Criminal Investigation Department on Sunday as he pursued inquiries into the close family and allies of Rajapakse, an official told AFP.
Since sacking Wickremesinghe, Sirisena has taken the police under his direct control.
Silva investigated the killing of 11 children between 2008-2009 and had secured an arrest order last week against the country's top military official when he was shifted on Sunday, an official said.
"He was about to arrest Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne when his marching orders came," a senior police official told AFP.
"This is a serious blow to half a dozen high profile investigations."
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