Police arrest students collecting money and misbehaving

Suraj A Bandara

Around 12 students of the Dehiwala Higher Technology Institute who were collecting money for a student union with tills were arrested by Slave Island police yesterday.

According to police they have been identified as first year students of the Institute and had been deployed by senior students at five locations to collect money from the public. They were misbehaving and insulting President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake.

They had been controlled by senior students of the Institute and the money collected had been used for parties and liquor at nights.

Student Affairs Director General Keerthi Mawallage said students were thoroughly instructed not to get involved in this type of activity when they were caught earlier for the same offence. The Education Minister appointed Prof. W.P.D.A. Weerakoon as the Director of the Institute. This was the first time that a professor was appointed to this chair, he said.

Stern legal action will be taken against these students, he said. Slave Island police are investigating.