Sri Lanka cricket legend Arjuna Ranatunga held for fatal shooting

Police arrest petroleum minister Arjuna Ranatunga. Pic/AFP

Sri Lanka's Petroleum Minister and cricket legend Arjuna Ranatunga was arrested on Monday for the first violent incident that killed one person in the ongoing political crisis in the country, police said.

Ranatunga, captain of Sri Lanka's 1996 cricket World Cup-winning team, was arrested from his ministry premises, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said. Ranatunga was the petroleum minister in ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government. The incident occurred on Sunday at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) premises in Dematagoda, when the cricketer-turned-politician visited the CPC office. Several petroleum corporation workers objected to his presence there.

When Ranatunga entered the building, new premier Mahinda Rajapaksa's supporters took exception to him visiting the office and shouted slogans. When they were not allowed to move out, Ranatunga's security personnel fired live rounds at Rajpaksa's supporters, leaving one person dead. Two others were hospitalised in the shooting incident and a security personnel was arrested at CPC.

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