Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Arrest drama ends, Gopal remanded to judicial custody

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI APRIL 12. The high drama over the arrest of R. R. Gopal, editor of Nakkheeran, Tamil biweekly, ended this morning with a city court remanding him to judicial custody in a case registered under the Arms Act and under 124 (A) IPC (sedition).

According to the CB-CID, investigating agency, the journalist, who was wanted in connection with a murder case, was picked up here last night. At the time of arrest, he was allegedly in possession of an ``unlicenced revolver with ammunition and a pamphlet in support of Tamil Nadu Liberation Army.''

The police said the main case was Rajamani (25), a ``police informant'' of Tiruvannamalai, entered the Sathyamangalam forest in June 1998 to collect information about the poacher-turned-sandalwood smuggler, Veerappan, and his associates. The brigand captured him and later allegedly murdered him. The Sathyamangalam police registered a case of ``Man Missing'', later altered to Sections 147, 148, 302 and 201 IPC read with 25 (1-B) (a) of the Arms Act against Veerappan and nine others.

A probe revealed that Mr. Gopal and his reporters had ``conspired with Veerappan and Tamil extremist groups such as TNLA/Tamil Nationalist Retrieval Troops to achieve the goal of creating a separate Tamil nation''. Pursuant to this, the jungle bandit decided to do away with police informants so as to terrorise the public. Only after receiving information about Rajamani from Gopal, did Veerappan kill him, the CB-CID said.

Mr. Gopal, who was arrested near his office here at 8.40 p.m., was brought to the special unit's office at the Government Estate. After completion of interrogation, he was produced before VI metropolitan magistrate at his Saidapet residence around 7 a.m. today and remanded to judicial custody till April 25, a senior CB-CID officer said. Investigation in both the cases was on, he said. Mr. Gopal was later lodged in the Central Prison, Chennai. Mr. Gopal would be remanded also in the case relating to the death of Rajamani, the police said.

`NHRC guidelines violated'

Meanwhile, People's Watch, Tamil Nadu, a human rights organisation, has complained to the National Human Rights Commission that Supreme Court and NHRC guidelines were blatantly violated by the police while arresting Mr. Gopal.

Though senior CB-CID officials were present in the special unit's office, where he was detained, they did not give the official reason for the arrest.

This was the plight of a journalist, who had sought the Madras High Court's intervention, apprehending arrest under mysterious circumstances.

The complaint also drew the NHRC attention to guidelines ``not having been followed'' in the arrest of the DMK youth wing leader, M. K. Stalin, and other MLAs.

People's Watch sought speedy NHRC intervention so that future violations could be prevented.

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