7 DMK men held for besieging gutka unit

COIMBATORE/CHENNAI: Coimbatore rural police on Tuesday arrested seven DMK members for besieging and protesting against an illegal gutka manufacturing unit near Sulur, when the cops were raiding it on Saturday.

The arrested were M Murugesan (53), P S Selvaraj (52), R Paramasivam (50), P Sureshkumar (34), P Kabilan (49), K N Shanmugam (53) and M Selvaraj (47) of Sulur. On a tip-off, a special team led by SP Moorthy raided the unit at Kannampalayam near Sulur on Friday night.

Since the operation was carried out secretly to the locals even after 12 hours, the DMK cadre in the locality besieged the unit and staged a protest demanding a fair probe. They also claimed that the police raided the premises only to evade a CBI inquiry and destroy evidence.

Panchayat prez helped owner: SP

M Murugesan of DMK and the former president of Kannampalayam Town Panchayat helped the owner of the unit in Sulur, J Amit Jain, in all possible ways, Coimbatore SP Pa Moorthy told newsperson on Tuesday.

“The illegal unit had been functioning without a building approval and without clearance from the PCB. The owner, Amit Jain, had paid all the taxes to the panchayat when M Murugesan was its president. Preliminary investigation revealed that Murugesan has helped Jain in all possible ways,” he said.

However, the SP’s claims seem to be baseless, as building approval can be given only by the Town Panchayat Executive Office up to 4,000 sq ft. If it exceeds 4,000 sq ft, it is the Local Planning Authority that must give the approval. When asked about it, Moorthy said, “Documents recovered reveal these facts. We suspect that it might not have happened without the knowledge of Murugesan.”

Stalin flays arrest of party men

Condemning action against his partymen who staged protests in Coimbatore, DMK working president M K Stalin on Tuesday alleged that there were attempts to screen evidence and sabotage the CBI probe into the scam. In a statement issued here, he lashed out at the police chief for allegedly directing the Coimbatore cops to foist cases on DMK men with a motive of saving himself, besides protecting the AIADMK minister.