A popular Sri Lankan astrologer has been arrested after predicting that the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, would be ousted from office and replaced by his own Prime Minister by September.

Opposition supporters decried the arrest of Chandrasiri Bandara as evidence of a growing crackdown on political dissent that has accompanied the army’s defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels last month.

According to police, Mr Bandara told an opposition meeting last week that the Prime Minister would take over as President on September 9, and the leader of the opposition would become Prime Minister.

It was not clear what Mr Bandara — who has a weekly television show and writes a political column for a pro-opposition newspaper — thought would happen to Mr Rajapaksa after his removal.

Mr Bandara was arrested on Wednesday night so that the source of his prediction could be investigated, according to Ranjith Gunasekera, a police spokesman.

Chathura Vidyarathna, deputy editor of Irudina, which publishes Mr Bandara’s column, said that police officers came to his home, arrested him and demanded that he make a statement about his predictions and his columns.

“He has not returned so far,” Mr Vidyarathna said.

The opposition United National Party condemned the arrest, saying that the Government was expanding a campaign to suppress the media. “The crime committed by Bandara is not making predictions favourable to the Government,” the party said in a statement.

Mr Rajapaksa’s popularity has soared, with some supporters hailing him as a modern-day king, since the army defeated the Tamil Tigers last month, bringing an end to a 26-year civil war.

Politicians in his ruling party have gone so far as to propose giving him a second six-year term without holding an election — or perhaps changing the constitution to make him President for life.

However, astrologers are extremely influential in Sri Lanka, where many people consult them before holding weddings and other special events, and politicians often use their predictions to boost their image.

Mr Rajapaksa has admitted that he is a devoted believer, telling foreign journalists this year that he often consults a favoured astrologer for advice on what time to make speeches or to depart for trips.

Mr Bandara’s arrest followed complaints by media rights groups that the Government is stepping up its efforts to stifle freedom of speech in the aftermath of its victory over the Tigers.

They say that the Government is suppressing public discussion of allegations that 20,000 civilians died in the past few months of the war, and almost 300,000 Tamils are now being detained illegally in internment camps.

The Government has announced the re-establishment of a powerful press council with the authority to jail journalists. Earlier this month Poddala Jayantha, a press freedom campaigner, was abducted and assaulted while returning from work.

According to Amnesty International, at least 14 Sri Lankan journalists and other media workers have been killed by suspected government paramilitaries and rebels since the beginning of 2006.

A number of others have been detained, tortured or have disappeared, and at least 20 more have fled the country because of death threats, according to Amnesty.

Hits and misses

• Myint Lwin, an astrologer from Burma, apologised to the country in May 2008 for failing to predict Cyclone Nargis.

• A Russian astrologer, Marina Bai, sued Nasa in 2005 for crashing a probe into a comet, saying it had distorted her horoscope. Her case was eventually rejected

• British spies hired an astrologer during the Second World War, Louis de Wohl. He was sent to the US on a propaganda mission where he duly (and correctly) predicted doom for the Nazis

Source: Times database

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