Undeclared directive to panel: Karunanidhi

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, JULY 11. The DMK leader and the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, has alleged that the Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa, had clearly indicated how the report of the one-man commission of inquiry should be. ``All that the inquiry commission has to do now is to reaffirm it in its report,'' he said.

In a rejoinder to the Chief Minister, the DMK leader today asked where was the need for her justification of the police action when she had announced that the inquiry commission had been appointed to find out the truth behind the whole issue, including police excesses. Her statement, according to him, was only an ``undeclared directive'' to the commission on how the final report should be. He expected the Commission report to be a carbon copy of her statement.

Refuting the Chief Minister's contention that he was arrested as ``grave irregularities'' had been committed in the construction of flyovers in Chennai, Mr. Karuananidhi wanted to know whether the police had completed the preliminary investigation before arresting him. If not, why had they failed to conduct it when he was kept in the CB-CID office for more than two hours after his arrest. The police had not produced any evidence of corruption even before the judge, who had remanded him.

In fact, the investigating officer, Mr. Padmanabhan, had admitted before the judge that none of the accused had received any pecuniary benefits and that the advantage went only to the contractors. If that was the case, then where did the question of corruption arise, he asked. Again, according to Mr. Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister had ``blatantly lied'' while explaining the sequence of the arrest. As per her statement, the police team led by Mr. Mohammed Ali after reaching his house went upstairs as they did not get any response when they tried to contact him over the intercom from downstairs. On the other hand, Mr. Karunanidhi said, police straightaway came upstairs after snapping the telephone lines. She had herself admitted that police had entered the room as there was no response when police knocked the door for more than 10 minutes.

Alleging that police misbehaved with women members of his family, he said that the police kept them in custody in the Vepery police station. Condemning the police move to enter into the house of the Union Minister, Mr. Murasoli Maran, without any warrant, he asked, ``Is it not an excess?''.

For the DMK leader the crux of the matter was not the case registered against him and Mr. Stalin, as they were ready to face it in the court of law, but that all rules and regulations were violated by police at the time of arrest and during subsequent events, he added.

Meanwhile, Sun TV today refuted the charges of the Chief Minister and said it had become a habit to find fault with the organisation whenever it pointed out acts of omission and commission of any political party. Referring to the arrest of the Villupuram reporter, Mr. G.Suresh, it said that many mainstream media had repeatedly pointed out that he was singled out and arrested though he was one among many reporters who had gone to cover the event.

Stalin's plea

The Chennai Mayor, Mr. M.K. Stalin, has sought the intervention of the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) for initiating action against the ``police officers who acted in a high-handed manner'' at his residence on the night the former Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, was arrested. In his complaint, Mr. Stalin alleged that the police ``ill-treated his family members'' to please Ms. Jayalalithaa. A copy of the complaint was also sent to the National Human Rights Commission.

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