CHENNAI: In a major setback to the Tamil Nadu government, the Madras high court on Tuesday ordered a
CBI probe into the May 22 police shooting in
Tuticorin in which 13 anti-Sterlite protesters were killed.
A division bench of Justice C T Selvam and A M Basheer Ahamed passed the order on a batch of pleas moved against the
police firing and detention of protesters under the National Security Act.
The bench passed the order in the principal seat of the Madras high court. The court originally reserved its order in the
Madurai bench of the court on August 1.
During the recent hearing, the state government produced the police case diary and all the minutes of the review committee meetings as directed by the court and reiterated that violation of the order promulgated under Section 144 of the CrPC had led to the police firing to control the agitators. This apart, the authorities also produced copies of the intelligence reports, police standing order and drill manual to the court.
After perusing the materials, the bench declared that it was quashing the detention of six people under the National Security Act. All the cases related to the police shooting would be probed by the CBI, the bench added.
As many as 13 people were killed in police firing in Tuticorin in May.
