The Hindu : Gopal back in judicial custody

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Gopal back in judicial custody

By K. Subramanian

KANCHEEPURAM APRIL 28. L. Rajendran, judge of the special court at Poonamalle, today remanded R. R. Gopal, editor, Nakkheeran, arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, to judicial custody till May 23 and ordered that he be lodged in the Chennai central prison.

The Crime Branch CID police told the judge that police interrogation was over, one day ahead of the time given by the court.

K. Nagarasan, Deputy Superintendent, Crime Branch CID, Coimbatore, investigating officer, who took Mr. Gopal into police custody on April 22 as per the orders of the special judge, submitted to him Form 95 containing the list of articles recovered from the accused.

At the instance of the judge, Mr. Gopal wrote in the court hall itself, a 14-page statement, narrating how the police conducted the interrogation, and submitted it to the court.

The defence counsel also submitted a memo stating the CB-CID police did not provide information about the whereabouts of Gopal to the lawyer, deputed for getting information as per the orders of the special court.

Before boarding a police van after he was remanded to judicial custody, Mr. Gopal shouted on the court campus that the CB-CID police were foisting a case on him and that they did not recover the articles mentioned in Form 95.

Our Chennai Special Correspondent reports:

A CB-CID release issued here this evening said the investigating officer, under the direct supervision of the SP, CB-CID, interrogated the accused at the Government Estate office on April 22. During interrogation, ``the accused confessed to his association with the forest brigand, Veerappan, and his active support to the TNLA/TNRT. On the confession by Mr. Gopal, the investigating team, headed by the SP, CB-CID, along with two independent witnesses, left Chennai for Erode. On April 26, on being identified by the accused, the following items were seized from the Thimmam forest area: One SBBL gun Webley Scottler, made in England; one SBBL country-made gun; 23 ammunitions used for guns; 123 gelatine sticks; 150 electrical detonators used for explosive devices; one telescope used for fixing in the gun; two walkie-talkies, made in Japan and Singapore, and a polythene sheet used for make-shift tent. According to the confession of the accused, the materials seized were intended for supply to the cadres of TNLA/TNRT''.

Apart from Mr. Gopal's denials to the media, while leaving the Poonamalle court premises, the Nakkheeran office sent a denial to the confessions and said the statements were ``extracted at gun point''.

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