Land grab row: Chaos in Tamil Nadu as DMK leaders arrested

Various cities in Tamil Nadu saw stand-offs between the DMK workers and police on Saturday following the arrests of party leaders on charges of land grabbing.

Veerapandi Arumugam, the Salem satrap and former agriculture minister, was arrested by the crime branch in connection with land grabbing. The arrest of Arumugam saw shop keepers pulling down shutters in Salem city.

Arumugam was presented before the Salem judicial magistrate court who ordered him to judicial  custody and was taken to Coimbatore Central Jail.

This is the third case to be filed against him. Arumugam was in police custody for two days earlier in the week for custodial questioning in connection with two other charges of land grabbing.       

Earlier in the day, Anbazhagan, the party MLA was arrested in Chennai in connection with a criminal case of intimidation filed by a Tiruppur industrialist. The arrests of Arumugam and Anbazhagan saw party leader MK Stalin staging a road roko in Tiruvarur district.

Stalin was detained by the police which led to speculations that he was arrested. But the police said he was detained for obstructing traffic.

The arrests come as a prelude to the protest rallies to be held by the DMK on August 1 against the ‘politics of victimisation and vendetta’ unleashed by the AIADMK regime, according to Stalin.

The Tamil Nadu police have registered more than 2,000 cases of land grabbing against the DMK leaders including Union minister MK Alagiri’s close relatives.

The DMK in its general council meeting held at Coimbatore on last Sunday had called for statewide marches on August 1 to protest against foisting of false cases against party workers by the AIADMK regime led by Jayalalithaa.

A Bangalore special court  will deliver its judgment on August 1 on a plea  by chief minster Jayalalithaa for exemption from personal appearance in the court in connection with the disproportionate wealth case against her.

Though she had been summoned by the court to appear personally on July 27, the chief minister pleaded that because of security considerations and her tight official schedule, she should be granted exemption from personal appearance in the court.

She pleaded with the court to allow her to either file an affidavit or a cross-examination through video conferencing taking into account her hectic official schedule and Z Plus category security cover.