Speaking at a public event recently, the MP has likened the plight of the elephant to that of a puppy abandoned by people at buddhist temples.

"In a statement, the Thera has said that there was a Perahera at the temple and afterwards, an elephant calf was found to be left behind. Usually people abandon puppies in this manner... And what do we do then? We keep them. Similarly the calf was kept at the temple," MP Weerawansa said.

He added that the CID is waiting to till Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera is discharged from hospital to arrest him.

When police officers visited the temple to question the Thera over keeping an elephant calf illegally, the Thera had been hospitalised citing a heart attack.

The Sinhala video of MP talking is shown below :