Sri Lanka seeks probe on "grease devil" facebook page on Astini News

COLOMBO, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka said Sunday that it has sought an investigation into a Facebook fan-page of a fictitious character which has spread panic and violence in the island for several weeks.

Sightings of the character known by locals as a "grease devil" as he reportedly goes around with grease on his body and attacks women, have led to mob violence over the past two weeks in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.

With the character gaining popularity and local media attention, a Facebook fan page was opened by unknown individuals and it already has over 3000 fans.

A Sri Lankan government operated computer agency says it has now written to the Facebook social media network requesting an investigation into the fan-page of the character.

Facebook has responded saying they will investigate the fan page and its contents, Rohana Palliyaguru, a senior information security engineer of Sri Lanka's Computer Emergency Response Team told Xinhua.

The Sri Lankan agency said it will also investigate over 3000 fans of the page while another separate investigation is to be carried out by the police criminal investigations department.

The Sri Lankan police recently warned that it will take action against locals who attempt to create fear among the public by spreading rumors over a so called grease devil.

Police believe the character, which first surfaced last year, was now being imitated by ordinary criminals resulting in several sightings in other parts of the country.

Several people have been killed and properties including that of the Sri Lankan security forces were damaged, following the recent mob violence over sightings of "grease devil."