Regiment and the 3rd Field Regiment of the Ceylon Artillery were disbanded in disgrace and remaining officers and men transferred to form the 4th Regiment, Ceylon Artillery. It was then moved to the Panagoda Cantonment from its traditional home, Rock House. The 2nd (V) Field/Plant Regiment of the Ceylon Engineers and the 2nd (V) Signal Regiment of the Ceylon Signals Corps were also disbanded in disgrace and the remaining men of the latter were brought to form the Ceylon National Guard. In 1999, the 2nd (V) Sri Lanka Signals Corps was formed, but none of the other regiments were reformed even during the height of the Sri Lankan Civil War when the Sri Lankan Army saw a major expansion. Arrests and detentions In all 31 persons were arrested, these included officers from the Army and the Navy, gazetted officers from the police, civil servants and several civilians. All arrested military officers were stripped of their ranks, while the police officers and civil servants were interdicted pending trial. Since no shots were fired and no troops deployed, the government soon discovered that there were no provisions within the penal code to prosecute the accused. The accused claimed that they had merely planned a drill to execute in the event of a collapse of law and order. So they were remanded, pending trial, in a special section of the Welikada Prison called the Magazine Section. To guard these officers, a special security detachment called the composite guard was selected from the Ceylon Light Infantry with Major A. Hulangamuwa in charge. The officers were held in solitary confinement in the hope of getting confessions. The conditions were improved later. Extensive interviews were carried out among the small officer coupe of the Ceylon Army to gain evidence against the accused. One officer, Captain Poulier took his own life with his service revolver. Criminal Law Special Provision Act of 1962 In the meantime the government passed a new law called Criminal Law (Special Provisions) Act, No. 1 of 1962 which gave additional provisions for prosecution beyond the limitations of the Evidence Ordinance, such as the use of hearsay as evidence; to bring the coup case under the new law it was given retrospective effect from January 1, 1962. The law was opposed in parliament by the United National Party and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, but the latter was convinced by the government to support