India, June 17 -- Former Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday filed a petition in a court to prevent his arrest in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks. On April 21, 2019, nine suicide bombers, including a woman, carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels, killing 270 people, including 44 foreigners, 11 of them Indians, and injuring over 500 others. Rajapaksa, 77, filed a writ petition in the Court of Appeal, citing the police chief, the director of the Criminal Investigation Department and the officer in charge as respondents. His attorneys told the court that there was a likelihood of his arrest under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Rajapaksa, who serve...