Earlier, Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera of Alan Mathiniyaramaya Temple in Polhengoda filed a fundamental rights petition in Supreme Court seeking an order preventing the CID from arresting him over a magisterial inquiry for allegedly possessing a baby elephant without a valid licence.

The thera maintained that he had kept a baby elephant that had been abandoned at the temple following a pageant held in 2014.

He stated that he only nurtured the elephant calf that was abandoned at his temple.