Senior counsel's quote on former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa is fabricated

An image of Kumarapperuma with a fabricated quote attributed to him -- styled to mimic news graphics from Sri Lankan media outlet Asian Mirror -- was shared in a Facebook post June 16, 2026 (archived link).

"Mahinda Rajapaksa came to the funeral at our home without an invitation. If he thinks that by attending funerals he can win rival votes for Namal, Mahinda is mistaken," the purported remarks read.

Kumarapperuma, a senior attorney who was appointed a president's counsel during the tenure of former president Ranil Wickremesinghe in January 2024, is also a member of the national executive committee of Sri Lanka's ruling National People's Power party (archived link).

The post also refers to Rajapaksa's son, Namal Rajapaksa, a parliamentarian and an opposition leader from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party (archived link).

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Screenshot of the false post taken on June 23, 2026 with a red X added by AFP

The false quote surfaced online days after Kumarapperuma's 25-year-old son, Nivin Kumarapperuma, died on June 12 (archived link).

Condolences poured in from politicians across party lines, and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was among opposition figures who paid their last respects at the funeral on June 14 (archived here and here).

But Upul Kumarapperuma told AFP via WhatsApp on June 18 he did not make the remarks circulating in the fabricated graphic.

"I have not made any statement whatsoever in this nature or anything referring to any political figures," he said.

News website Asian Mirror also denied creating or publishing the purported graphic.

"The content in question was not created, published or distributed by Asian Mirror," Supun Jagodage, chief executive officer of the news outlet, told AFP via email on June 19.

"The image appears to imitate templates similar to those used in Asian Mirror's English-language website and social media platforms, but we can confirm this is not an authentic Asian Mirror publication," he added. 

The outlet refuted the claims on its official Facebook pages both in Sinhala and English (archived here and here). 

A reverse image search on Google found the image of Kumarapperuma used in the fake graphic was shared on the Instagram account of Sri Lanka's Junior Bar Committee of the Bar Association on November 17, 2022 with a caption that says it shows him at a criminal law workshop (archived link). 

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Screenshot comparison of the image used in the false post (L) and the photograph posted on Instagram

AFP has previously debunked fabricated graphics that mimic Sri Lankan media outlets.