Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena has called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has ‘categorically denied’ the report that quoted him as saying the Indian secret service was plotting to kill him.
The Hindu had reported that Sirisena on Tuesday accused India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of plotting his assassination.
The report said that at the weekly cabinet meeting, Mr. Sirisena told Ministers that the Indian intelligence agency was “trying to kill” him, but “Prime Minister Narendra Modi may not be aware of the plan.”
The report further added that when contacted for verification, a senior officer at the President’s media unit said: “We will verify this and revert.” However, there has been no response till Tuesday night.
However now, the Sri Lankan government has denied the report.
His phone call to Modi came hours after his government had officially denied the report.
India’s ministry of external affairs released a statement which said Mr Sirisena had told Mr Modi that he was a close personal friend and also a “true friend of Sri Lanka”, while calling the “mischievous and malafide” story “utterly baseless and false”.
It added that Mr Modi had “appreciated the prompt steps” to reject the report and had reiterated India’s commitment to developing stronger ties with its neighbour.