Colombo, Feb 11 (PTI) Sri Lanka police will have a new Central Criminal Investigation Bureau (CCIB), a new addition to the existing Crime Investigation Department (CID), to expedite investigation in various cases.

Police spokesman and superintendent Buddika Manathunga said the new CCIB will have six divisions. “This will be a new administrative division within the police,” he said.

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The new division would handle some of the investigations handled by the CID currently, he added.

“There is a huge backlog of investigation files at the CID. The new unit will work to expedite crime investigations,” Manathunga said.

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In recent weeks, the government has faced criticism over the investigation of several high-profile cases between 2015 and 2019.

Despite the election pledges to expedite and bring justice to victims, the government has failed to carry out successful prosecutions.

Recently, Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe held meetings with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake where obstacles related to the cases were discussed.

The Rajapaksa family has faced renewed quizzing by police on various stalled cases from 2015.

The Rajapaksas have accused the government of leading a political witch hunt against them.

In one such case, Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the second son of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was arrested and later released on bail.

Member of Parliament Namal Rajapaksa, eldest son of Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been served with an indictment on a previous case.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)