By Susitha Fernando

Colombo, Apr 19 (IANS): Sri Lanka's former Attorney General (AG), who claimed that there was a 'grand conspiracy' behind the 2019 Easter Sunday attack, has been summoned to the police special investigation unit to record a statement.

Ex-Attorney General Dappula de Livera has been summoned to the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) to appear on Wednesday following a direction by Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakshe to the present AG to record a statement from the former AG.

Few days ahead of his retirement in 2021, Livera had stated that there was a 'grand conspiracy with regard to the 2019 April Attacks'.

Speaking to media, the former AG had stated that the foreign violent extremist religious ideology was imported to Sri Lanka at some point and it played a key role in carrying out the attacks.

Livera had also claimed that the investigations into the coordinated attacks, carried out on three Christian churches and four hotels on April 21, 2019, were focused on three people living overseas including Abu Hind in India, and Lukman Thalib and son in Australia for their connection to the attacks.

Indian security agencies, which had followed the extremist movement in Sri Lanka, National Thowheeth Jama'ath and its leader Mohammed Zaharan, had shared detailed information about the attacks well ahead of the disaster but Sri Lankan security had to act on the details provided.

The multiple attacks killed nearly 270 people including foreigners and injured over 500.