Sri Lanka's defeated presidential candidate arrested

General Sarath Fonseka, the former Sri Lankan army chief and defeated presidential candidate, has been arrested for 'military offences'.

General Fonseka was arrested at his office in Colombo on Monday night.

"He was dragged away in a very disgraceful manner in front of our own eyes," Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem said.

 Military spokesman Major-General Prasad Samarasinghe said the arrest related to offences from Fonseka's time in the army, which ended in November when he stepped down and entered the presidential race.

"General Fonseka has been arrested on charges of committing military offences," Samarasinghe said in an official statement broadcast by the government Information Department.

Earlier on Monday it was thought that General Fonseka could face a court martial trial on charges that he plotted a coup and planned to assassinate President Rajapaksa.

A senior Sri Lankan military official told The Daily Telegraph the former army chief was currently under investigation in relation to an alleged coup attempt and that if charged it would be under the Army's code of conduct.

The former army chief resigned last year following a fall out with President Rajapaksa over who deserved the credit for the final defeat of the Tamil Tigers and ending the country's 26-year civil war.

The general pledged to reunite the country and win the peace by drawing Tamils into the political process.

Tensions between the two former colleagues deteriorated during the campaign and pressure on General Fonseka intensified after his defeat when army troops surrounded his hotel.

Twenty-one members of his campaign team, including some senior former army officers, were arrested and campaign computers were seized.

The general blamed wide scale ballot rigging for his defeat.

Both Britain and the United States have registered concerns with senior government officials about the treatment of the general following his presidential campaign defeat.

Western diplomats said the Sri Lankan government has told them it has proof of his involvement in a coup attempt, but it has failed to produce any credible evidence to support its claims.

"We would have expected the evidence to have come out by now," one Colombo-based diplomat said.

Few diplomats believe General Fonseka had planned a coup and regard the allegations as a sign of insecurity in the Rajapaksa camp following the general's claims of ballot-rigging.

Observers had believed the two candidates were neck and neck, but President Rajapaksa won with a 17 per cent margin.

A senior Sri Lankan military official confirmed the coup investigation was progressing and that General Fonseka could face a court martial trial.

"We are inquiring into all the activities of General Fonseka, before and after the election. We are looking for evidence and once we have evidence we will take legal action.

"We have taken some of the military officers involved in the election campaign. If he [General Fonseka] has violated the code of conduct of the army, we will have to take certain action," he said.