It has now come to the limelight that the government's move to replace the head of the Criminal Investigations Department was prompted by Shashi Weerawansa, the wife of former Minister and National Freedom Front Leader Wimal Weerawansa.

Sources from the Police Headquarters told Asian Mirror that the former Director of the CID had soft-pedaled on investigations against Shashi Weerawansa, delaying her arrest in connection with obtaining a diplomatic passport illegally.

With this development, the new government has reportedly identified the former Director of the CID as a "vestige" of the Rajapaksa regime, Asian Mirror reliably learns. "If not for the actions of the former Director of the CID, Shashi Weerawansa would have been arrested weeks before," a top source of the Police Department told Asian Mirror on Tuesday.

Soon after Shashi Weerawansa's prosecution, the government took immediate measures to replace the former Director of the CID with B.R.S.R. Nagahamulla, a senior officer of the Police Department.

It was widely speculated that SSP Prishantha Jayakody, who rejoined the police service last week after a hiatus of a few years, would appointed as the new Head of the CID.