India Says Not Involved In Sri Lanka President's Flight

By Shakir Husain NEW DELHI, July 15 (Bernama) -- India has denied it was involved in Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's travel after he fled the crisis-hit country. Gotabaya arrived in the Maldives from Sri Lanka on Wednesday on a military plane with his wife as mass protests escalated against his rule. He left the Maldives aboard a Saudi Airlines flight on Thursday on his way to Singapore, Sri Lanka's Daily Mirror newspaper reported. Gotabaya was escorted to the plane by the Maldivian special forces, the report said. The Indian government said it did not play a role in the Sri Lankan president's escape. "High Commission categorically denies baseless reports that suggest that Govt. of India was involved in the reported transit of @GotabayaR through the Maldives," the Indian High Commission in the Maldives tweeted on Thursday. The Indian diplomatic mission in Colombo, in a social media post on Wednesday, also denied "baseless and speculative media reports” that India facilitated Gotabaya's travel out of Sri Lanka. -- BERNAMA