By Roy Denish.
Former Colombo politician Mahinda Kahandagama has been arrested in Mirihana after police allegedly found crystal methamphetamine in his possession.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Mahinda Kahandagama, whose torn red shirt and public humiliation became one of the defining images of Sri Lanka’s 2022 economic and political crisis, found himself back in police custody on Monday night—this time facing allegations connected to narcotics.
Officers from the Colombo Central Crime Investigation Bureau detained the former Colombo municipal politician near a restaurant in Mirihana, saying they recovered a quantity of crystal methamphetamine, commonly known in Sri Lanka as “Ice”, from his possession.
According to law enforcement authorities, preliminary inquiries suggest that Kahandagama may have been linked to drug-trafficking networks.
A second individual suspected of operating alongside him was also arrested during the operation with a quantity of the synthetic drug.
The allegations have not yet been tested in a court of law, and police investigations remain ongoing.
The arrest adds another unusual chapter to the history of a public figure already associated with the turbulent events of Sri Lanka’s recent political upheaval.
A Face of the 2022 Crisis
Kahandagama first rose to national prominence on May 9, 2022.
That morning, supporters of the then-ruling Rajapaksa administration launched a violent assault on peaceful anti-government demonstrators at the GotaGoGama protest village on Galle Face Green, triggering a massive wave of retaliatory violence across the capital.
As a staunch supporter of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Kahandagama was caught directly in the public backlash.
Enraged crowds tracked him down, stripped off his red shirt, and forced him to walk through the streets of Colombo in his underwear.
Photographs and videos of the beaten politician circulated widely, crystallising the sudden and dramatic collapse of the ruling regime’s authority.
In the political realignment that followed the departure of the Rajapaksas from power and Ranil Wickremesinghe’s subsequent assumption of the presidency in July 2022, Kahandagama drifted away from his original political base, navigating the changing alliances common among local politicians after the national crisis.
Four years ago, public attention centred on what was ripped from his back.
Now, investigators are focusing on what they allege he was carrying in his possession.
