Dr. Rajah Johnpulle, the UNP’s Anuradhapura campaign manager, on Friday filed a fundamental rights action in the Supreme Court claiming Rs.100 million damages from the state over a Aug. 20 mob attack that destroyed his Anuradhapura home and dispensary as well as several vehicles belonging to him and his patients parked within the premises.

Johnpulle said yesterday that President Mahinda Rajapakse had called him after the attack and expressed deep regret at what had happened.

"He said that he will do his best to compensate me although it was not possible to make good a loss such as that which I had suffered," he said.

The victim alleged that senior police offers including two DIGs and an official of the Presidential Secretariat stood by while the mob went berserk and that the fire brigade did nothing to douse the flames although the fire raged for four hours.

He has cited Chief Minister Bertie Premalal Dissanayake of the NCP, the IGP, Dissanayake’s son, Duminda, who’s an MP, Anauradhapura’s fire chief, DIG, OIC, and several senior officers of the Anuradhapura police division as well as supporters of the chief minister as respondents.

The petitioner has called on the Supreme Court to direct the Attorney General to charge the respondent police officers under the Police Ordinance for cowardice for failing to give him protection from a violent mob that was looting and destroying his house and property worth more than Rs.40 million.

He asked that the court directs the National Police Commission to deem the respondents unfit to hold any office in the Police Department and that none of them should be considered for promotion.

Johnpulle said yesterday that he had been living and working in Anuradhapura since 1965 and he had good relations with the people of the area many of whom were his patients.

"I have lived here peacefully all these years and nobody has even thrown a stone at my house," the general medical practitioner who served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries from 1978 to 1982, said.