Speaking to the BBC Sinhala service, Namal Rajapaksa said that he and his family were very close to Thajudeen and had often visited his house.

"He was a close friend... A very close friend... A brother who played rugby with us for Sri Lanka," he added.

Earlier this week, the Colombo Additional Magistrate gave the police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) the approval to exhume the body of Wasim Thajudeen on Monday August 10.

Court had earlier decided to consider a request to exhume Thajudeen’s body after the CID said that there was suspicion over the manner in which he died.

Accordingly the Colombo Additional Magistrate yesterday approved the request and ordered that the body be exhumed on Monday.

Thajudeen was earlier believed to have been killed in a car accident but later the CID informed the death was not an accident.

Meanwhile, Cabinet spokesman - Minister Rajitha Senaratne had said that it was revealed that several PSD officials were linked to Thajudeen's death.

However, attempts made by 'BBC Sandeshaya' to contact the Police Spokesman to verify this were unsuccessful