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When Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya recently left for Qatar to convey the Sri Lankan government’s condolences on the death of Qatar’s former ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, a young woman seen beside her at Katunayake Airport set social media alight. In a politically charged moment, posts carrying false and hostile claims about the woman spread fast. We investigated who she really is. Here is what we found.
Social Media Posts:
Numerous posts, framed from various angles, claimed that the woman who travelled with the Prime Minister was her personal chef. Some added that Minister Nalinda Jayatissa had confirmed she travelled as a chef, and that Newswire’s Facebook page had reported it as news.
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Others depicted MP and Attorney-at-Law Lakmali Hemachandra as having said the Prime Minister had travelled abroad with her son, and that critics were merely disgruntled troublemakers, alongside mocking and derogatory posts.
Another post claimed that when users asked AI tools who the woman was, the tools named her as prominent Sri Lankan athlete Tharushi Karunaratne, with commentary shared as shown below.
Fact-Check:
Minister Nalinda Jayatissa Made No Such Statement
Our investigation found no mainstream media report of Health Minister Nalinda Jayatissa saying the Prime Minister travelled abroad with her personal chef, nor any instance of the Minister making such a statement. When we contacted the Minister’s media secretary directly, he confirmed the Minister had made no such statement.
No such story appeared on the ‘Newswire’ Facebook page either. ‘Newswire’ itself posted a clarification on its official social media accounts, confirming that the story circulating on social media was not published by them and had been fabricated using their name without authorization.
MP Lakmali Hemachandra Made No Such Statement
Our investigation confirmed that MP Lakmali Hemachandra had made no statement suggesting the young woman in the post was the Prime Minister’s son. We contacted MP Hemachandra directly, and she confirmed that the post was fabricated and that she made no such statement.
The Woman Is Not Athlete Tharushi Karunaratne — the AI Answer Was a Hallucination
Although some AI tools, when queried, identified the woman in the photograph as 800m Asian Games gold medallist Tharushi Karunaratne, the person pictured is not Tharushi Karunaratne.
As shown below, a direct comparison between the woman in the photograph and the 22-year-old athlete Tharushi Karunaratne makes this clear.
This is an example of an AI “hallucination,” where the technology confidently presents fabricated information as fact. Where live facial-recognition capability is lacking, AI tools can generate such false information convincingly, underscoring the importance of cross-verifying facts across multiple sources in any genuine investigation.
The Woman Is a Sub-Inspector from the PM’s Security Division
Prime Minister’s Media Coordinating Secretary
Working from a photograph taken as Prime Minister Harini left for Qatar on 14 July to represent the government in paying final respects after the death of Qatar’s former Emir, the Media Coordinating Secretary confirmed that the woman at the center of the social media discussion is a female Sub-Inspector of Police from the Prime Minister’s Security Division who accompanied her on the trip.
She further confirmed that the person in the viral photograph is neither the Prime Minister’s personal chef nor her son, and that posts claiming NPP members made such statements are also false.
Deputy Inspector General Jagath Wishantha, Special Security Division
We also contacted Deputy Inspector General of Police Jagath Wishantha, a senior Sri Lanka Police officer and head of the Prime Minister’s Security Division (PMSD), to further confirm whether the woman who travelled with the Prime Minister was an officer from her security detail.
The Deputy Inspector General confirmed that the woman in the photographs is female Sub-Inspector U.U.M.H.A. Wijebandara of the Professional Elite Security division. Further inquiries confirmed that she joined the police service in 2017, has served in the PMSD since 2020, and had previously been assigned to the security details of former Prime Ministers Mahinda Rajapaksa and Dinesh Gunawardena.
He noted that officers assigned to security divisions do not wear standard police uniforms while on such duty and observed that false information disparaging both the Prime Minister and the Sub-Inspector was being circulated on social media.
At our request, and with her consent, the Sub-Inspector at the center of the discussion also shared photographs of herself in police uniform, shown below.
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Conclusion:
Our investigation shows that the young woman seen beside Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya as she left for Qatar to convey the government’s condolences on the death of Qatar’s former ruler is not her personal chef, not her son, and not the athlete Tharushi Karunaratne. She is a female Police Sub-Inspector.
She is Sub-Inspector U.U.M.H.A. Wijebandara of the Professional Elite Security division, who joined the police service in 2017, has served in the Prime Minister’s Security Division (PMSD) since 2020, and previously served on the security details of former Prime Ministers Mahinda Rajapaksa and Dinesh Gunawardena.
Title: Not Her Chef: Setting the Record Straight on PM Harini’s Qatar Trip Companion
Fact Check By: Pavithra Sandamali
Result: False
