Claim: The Nalanda College Old Boys’ Association congratulated former IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon for surrendering himself to the police per the open arrest warrant against him in connection with a 2023 shooting incident that took place outside the W15 hotel in Weligama.
Fact: This claim is false. The Nalanda College Past Pupils’ Association has not made any such public announcement.
Former Inspector General of Police, Deshabandu Tennakoon, who had an open arrest warrant issued against him in the W15 Hotel shooting case, surrendered before the Matara Magistrate’s Court after being untraceable since the arrest warrants were issued in February.
Ever since his arrest, a graphic has been going viral carrying the photograph of Tennakoon, and a text in Sinhala which reads, “Since almost 100 years of the beginning of Nalanda College, the first IGP born from the school has surrendered to the courts. We are proud of him for this gesture.” The graphic attributes this statement to the Old Boys’ Association of Nalanda College Colombo, where Tennakoon studied. A few posts carrying this graphic can be found here and here.
Due to the controversial nature of the case, we decided to look into the veracity of this claim.
What is the W15 hotel shooting case?
On December 31, 2023 eight police officers including Tennakoon of the Colombo Crime Division were travelling in a van to the hotel W15 to conduct a search related to a narcotic network headed by underworld kingpins known as ‘Harak Kata’ and ‘Midigama Ruwan’. During this journey, the CCD police claimed that a soldier shot at them from inside the hotel premises, which led to a shooting incident. As the shooting continued, the CCD vehicle sped away despite orders by the Weligama police to stop it. Sergeant Upul Chaminda Kumara, a resident of Galewela was killed, and another officer was injured. After subsequent investigations, in February 2025, the courts ordered the arrest of all eight CCD officers involved in the incident under the charge of conspiracy to commit murder.
More information about the case and its developments can be found here, here, and here.
Fact Check/Verification
We first decided to look at the official social media accounts of the Old Boys’ Association of Nalanda College to see if there were any posts related to the arrest of Tennakoon, but could not find any. After a post in 2019 congratulating Tennakoon for being appointed as IGP, there have been no posts regarding Tennakoon on their official page.
On March 21, the news outlets Dinamina and NewsWire reported that the Nalanda College Old Boys’ Association has lodged a complaint with the Criminal Investigations Department about this graphic, claiming that it is a doctored image.
In order to confirm whether such a congratulatory post was indeed put out by the alumni group, we reached out to the Old Boys’ Association of Nalanda College, who denied the claim and confirmed that they have not publicly congratulated Tennakoon or made any statement regarding his arrest.
Conclusion
The claim that Nalanda College Old Boys’ Association publicly congratulated Former IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon for surrendering himself to the police is false.
Result: False
Our Sources
News Report on Dinamina, March 21, 2025
News Report on NewsWire LK, March 21, 2025
The Facebook account of the Nalanda College Old Boys’ Association
A representative of the Nalanda College Old Boys’ Association
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