Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) Dr. Sameera Senaratne, in a statement to the media today, denied he had left the country without notifying the Police and said he was in Russia on a medical tour.

‘I note there is much undue speculation, disinformation and untruths currently being circulated in the mainstream and social media pertaining to the circumstances of my leaving the country,’ the statement by Dr. Sameera Senaratne said.

‘May I take this opportunity to state that I am currently away in Russia as part of an official SAITM delegation on invitation by the Nizhny Novogorod State Medical Academy, which had been planned many weeks before.  The SAITM delegation also includes its Registrar and two of its MBBS graduates.’

Refuting allegation he had left the country without notifying Police, the SAITM CEO said, ‘OIC Mulleriyawa Police had been duly informed of my current visit to Russia and I was subsequently escorted to the airport by the assigned police  personnel for reasons of security.’

‘I wish to convey my thanks to the Mulleriyawa Police OIC and the team as the investigations into the shooting are still on going. I would urge all interested parties to be patient’, he added, explaining that the SAITM delegation would return to Sri Lanka February 21.