Two days after the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court denied advance bail to two lawyers, one of them has been arrested on charges of ‘engineering’ the protests in Thoothukudi on May 22.
A lawyer named Vanchinathan was arrested at the Chennai airport at 11 pm on Wednesday.
Both Hari Raghavan and Vanchinathan have been charged under the Indian Penal Code Section 353 (criminal force to deter public servants from discharging duty), Section 148 (rioting with deadly weapons) and Section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act.
The duo reportedly belong to the Makkal Adhigaram group which has been accused of harbouring anti-social elements that turned a peaceful protest, violent.
According to a report in the Hindustan Times that quotes the Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police Murali Rambha, he said, “Prima facie our investigation reveals Vanchinathan’s association with protests. After being produced before a magistrate, the accused is now lodged in Palayamkottai jail. We are looking out for the other lawyer.”
While the lawyers’ argument has been that they had merely sought to provide legal assistance to those affected by the pollution caused by the Sterlite plant, Justice GR Swaminathan denied them bail on Monday.
The court observed, “The petitioners do not dispute the fact that they were the leaders. As many as 13 persons have died in the protests. The petitioners should not stand shy of police interrogation.”
Six other members of the group had been arrested earlier and charged under the National Security Act.
Earlier, a Tamil serial actor was arrested for her comments on the Thoothukudi incident. Soon after the gunning down of 13 civilians, Nilani posted a video of herself in police attire and was critical of the Tamil Nadu government. The actress was reportedly in costume for a role she plays.
According to a report in The Hindu, the actor was arrested in Coonoor by the Vadapalani police. She has been charged under Indian Penal Code Sections 419 (Punishment for cheating by personation), 153 (Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 500 (Punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and 66 D (Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
Source: The News Minute