Mr. Nadesapillai said the suspicions were the result of a police mistake. He said on the night of the rebel air raid, a friend was scheduled to arrive from France. When the Colombo airport closed due to the attack, Vithyatharan had called Paris to find out where the friend's flight had been diverted.

Police listening in on Vithyatharan's phone misread the discussion and suspected he was helping the rebel planes, he said. "They thought that they were talking in code words," Mr. Nadesapillai said.