Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the son of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was arrested by police on Saturday on charges of corruption related to a property purchase

The former navy officer was detained in Beliatta, his family’s home area, as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities in the acquisition of the property during his father's presidency, which ended in 2015.

Yoshitha, the second of Mahinda Rajapaksa's three sons, is the latest member of the Rajapaksa family to be questioned in relation to the case. Last week, his uncle and former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was also interrogated by police about the same property—a holiday home situated in the religiously significant town of Kataragama, in southern Sri Lanka.

The arrest came amid growing political tension, as Mahinda Rajapaksa filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Friday, requesting the reinstatement of his security detail, which had been significantly reduced by the current government last month.