Presidential doomsday astrologer arrested

Sri Lanka Police Tuesday arrested an astrologer who falsely predicted Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s death before the end of this month. 

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) arrested the astrologer Wijemuni Vijitha Rohana de Silva, 52 for allegedly misleading the public by making false predictions, Police said. 

The former navy sailor, convicted of attempting to assassinate late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi 25 years ago, has predicted that President Sirisena would die of an accident or an acute diabetic condition before 26 January 2017.

He initially made his claim on his own Facebook account, but later his claim was published in local newspapers.

In later posts Vijitha Rohana de Silva has claimed that the subsequent elections will be very favorable to the former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, DPA reported.

Last month the police investigated the Rajiv Gandhi attacker on suspicion of involvement in an alleged plot to kill the President. 

Vijitha Rohana de Silva served two and a half years in prison for attacking the former Indian leader as he inspected a naval guard of honor in Colombo in 1987.