The CID on Saturday arrested in Puttalam, Polwatte Rathubaduge Ajith Nishantha of Pattiyawela , Kelaniya , the assassin of human rights activist Gerard Mervyn Perera , who had been evading arrest since the killing. An authoritative source from the CID told "The Island" that the killer had been hiding in a carpentry shop in a teak plantation in the jungles of Sirambiadiya , a conservation area when the arrest was made.

According to the source, the sleuths had been hiding in the jungle for about two weeks and an officer in mufti had later entered the carpentry shop on the pretext of seeking employment. He had befriended one of the employees in the carpentry and was able to get the suspect out of his hideout. The suspect had been arrested in the wee hours of Saturday morning, the source said, adding that he had admitted to the killing .

The killer was produced before the Wattala Magistrate the same morning and was remanded to be produced at an identification parade on February 15, he said.

According to the senior CID officer there were 3 – 4 eye witnesses who have said that they could identify the killer of Gerard Perera.

Gerard Mervyn Perera, was arrested by Wattala police reported to be on a mistaken identity of a murder suspect on 30 June, 2002 and had been badly tortured in custody. A seriously injured Perera had battled for his life at the Nawaloka hospital and later won a fundamental rights case where the Supreme Court ordered the police department to pay him Rs. 650,000. Seven police officers including SI Suresh Gunaratne and IP Sena Suraweera, OIC Wattala police were to pay the torture victim compensation out of their own funds.

Meanwhile the Attorney General advised the CID to conduct inquiries in to torture by the Wattala police and on CID findings, the Attorney General’s Department indicted SI Suresh and five other policemen at the Negambo High Court under the Torture Act where if convicted they would have to serve a mandatory seven year jail term in addition to the fines. On 31 November, 2004 the victim was shot by an unidentified gunman at Mabola while travelling in a bus and on 23 November 2004 he succumbed to his injuries.

CID investigations revealed that SI Suresh Gunaratne of Wattala police presently in custody over the killing had driven the killer Ajith in his Toyota Carina car and ordered him to fire at Ajith with a pistol given by him.