Social media is abuzz with speculations about the impending arrest of the former First Lady and wife of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The speculation comes days after the Deputy Minister of Labour, Mahinda Jayasinghe, revealed in Parliament in 2025 March that several plots of land in the Imbulgoda area of Gampaha were acquired in 2012 under her name at a significantly low price of Rs. 5,00,000. He also noted that a complaint regarding the transactions had been filed with the Criminal Investigation Department.
Amidst these conversations on social media, several online users are claiming that her husband urged the Malwatte Chapter monks to intervene with the current President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on his behalf to prevent the arrest.
One TikTok by @newsallerts says in Sinhala, “Mahinda requests the Malwatte Chapter head monk to speak to Anura and ask to not arrest Shiranthi.”
Similar claims could be found on Facebook here and here.
Given the controversial nature of the rumours of the arrest, Newschecker decided to check the veracity of the claim and found it to be false.
Fact Check/Verification
We first did a keyword search of words “Shiranthi Rajapaksa,” “Mahinda Rajapaksa,” “Gampaha,” “land” and “Criminal Investigations Department” to understand whether there were any updates about her purported arrest. We noted that her brother Nishantha Wickramasinghe has been arrested on separate charges by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) over allegations of causing financial losses to Sri Lankan Airlines while he was the Chairman. This reporting did not mention anything regarding Shiranthi or Mahinda Rajapaksa except their familial relationship.
We then checked further about any reports on the Rajapaksa family and the Malwatte chapter monks. We found that on June 30, the Deputy Registrar of the Malwathu Maha Viharaya, Venerable Mahawela Rathanapala Thero has issued a clarification based on a directive from the Chief Prelate of the Malwathu Chapter, denying that Rajapaksa asked him to stop any potential arrest. This has been highlighted in media outlets including Hiru News and The Morning. The statement notes that no meeting or telephone conversation, as mentioned in the viral claim, took place and further warned legal action against individuals and organisations attempting to create and spread such misleading news to cause public unrest.
The eldest son of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Namal Rajapaksa, also posted on his X profile about the same, clarifying it is false.
Conclusion
The head monk of the Malwatte Chapter and the Rajapaksas’ son MP Namal Rajapaksa have confirmed that the claim is untrue.
Our Sources
‘Shiranthi Rajapaksa’s brother arrested’, published on The Island, June 28, 2025
‘Malwatte Chapter Denies mahanayaka was asked to intervene in Shiranthi Rajapaksa Arrest Rumours’, published in HiruNews, June 30, 2025
‘Shiranthi Rajapaksa: Malwathu Viharaya clarifies fake MR news’, published on The Morning, July 1, 2025
X post by Namal Rajapaksa, June 29, 2025
