"If Rajapaksa can do things like this without power, then there's no point in you being in power, right?" read a Sinhala-language caption of a Facebook post shared on July 18, 2026.
The post was shared alongside an image featuring Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath that mimics the graphics style of a local news outlet Dasatha Lanka News (archived here and here).
"The Rajapaksa demon took the life of former Inspector General of Police - Vijitha Herath," read the text imposed on the image.
The Rajapaksa political dynasty -- accused of corruption and war crimes -- dominated Sri Lankan politics for about two decades until they were ousted by protesters during the island nation's unprecedented economic crisis in 2022 (archived here, here, and here).
The false claim circulated a day after the death of Sri Lanka's 35th Inspector General of Police, Chandana Deepal Wickramaratne, commonly known as C.D. Wickramaratne (archived here and here).
The police initially said that Wickramaratne had taken his own life, but later reported that he died of gunshot wounds (archived links here, here and here).
Similar claims were posted in public Facebook groups with a combined membership of more than 523,000 users.
However, the claim is false.
A reverse image search of the purported news graphic led to a Facebook video posted by Siyatha News on September 27, 2024 (archived link).
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