Gotabaya Rajapaksa Flees To Maldives

Photo courtesy Twitter

Colombo: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to Maldives on Wednesday. Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane.

Rajapaksa was in Male and would most likely proceed to another Asian country from there, Reuters reported, quoting a government source and a person close to the President.

He was received by Maldivian government representatives at the Velana airport in Male, NDTV reported.

Rajapaksa is expected to resign today. As President, he enjoys immunity from arrest.

Rajapaksa requested his country’s military for a plane on Tuesday night and the military was “obligated” to provide him one, NDTV reported. Rajapaksa continues to be the supreme commander of the defence forces.

Earlier on Tuesday, both Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother and former minister Basil Rajapaksa could not catch flights out of the country at Colombo airport after immigration officers refused to clear them.