Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry on Wednesday (17 October) denied the report by an Indian newspaper on Tuesday (16 October) which claimed that President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena had told his ministers at a weekly cabinet meeting that Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is plotting to assassinate him, The New Indian Express has reported.

The newspaper in its report had claimed that Sirisena had expressed his concerns over RAW “trying to kill him” but “Prime Minister Narendra Modi may not be aware of the plan.” Sirisena telephoned Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clear the air, as reported by The Hindu.

The report which was published just days before the visit of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s India visit was denied by the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka calling it “baseless and false”.

Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry, in a statement, said that relations between two countries including intelligence sharing, are strong up to the highest levels of government.

“It is disappointing, therefore, that matters of this nature have become the subject of distorted and erroneous media reports taking the President's remarks out of context, which has given rise to further media and social media speculation and the spread of unfounded fear among the public,” said the statement.

The statement said that President Sirisena, in continuation with the close and regular interactions between Sri Lanka and India, on Wednesday (17 October) morning had discussions with the High Commissioner of India in Colombo.