Sri Lanka, Aug. 28 -- United National Party (UNP) Chairman Wajira Abeywardena said that the 43-acre land on which the Welikada Prison now stands once belonged to the ancestral family of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Asserting that he is in possession of the extracts of the land to prove the point, Mr. Abeywardena said it was a twist of irony that Mr. Wickremesinghe was remanded in a cell housed in a building lying on one of his ancestral lands.

"It is sad that Mr. Wickremesinghe was remanded there," he said.

Asked whether legal action against Mr. Wickremesinghe over his action as the then President would have retrospective effect on current President Anura Kumara Dissanayake one day, Mr. Abeywardena answered in the negative. ...