Chennai (The Hawk): The influential Vanniyar community's political arm, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), has urged strict action and the start of criminal procedures against the police officers guilty for the 13 fatal shootings at the Sterlite facility in Thoothukudi.
The administration had launched departmental proceedings against the accused cops, but Dr. S. Ramadoss, the party's founding leader, stated in a statement on Thursday that this was not necessary and that criminal processes should be started instead.
He claimed that the policemen from Thoothukudi wanted the same murder charges to be brought against the Sathakulam police officers who were responsible for the barbaric killing of a father and son. According to him, firing at anti-Sterlite demonstrators must be viewed as a criminal conspiracy act and handled appropriately.
Ramadoss expressed his dissatisfaction with the state government's explanation that only department action would be taken against the officers responsible for firing at the anti-Sterlite protesters.
It should be recalled that the Thoothukudi police had resorted to shooting at a mob protesting the Sterlite facility at Thoothukudi during the previous AIADMK government. 13 protesters were killed by the police in May 2018.
The government appointed Justice Aruna Jagadeesan committee to investigate police excesses at Thoothukudi named 17 policemen in the shooting incident. This includes the former Thoothukudi SP, P. Mahendran, the former DySp of police, Lingathirumaran, as well as the former Inspector General of Police (South Zone), Shailesh Kumar Yadav, and the former Deputy Inspector General of Police, Kapil Kumar C. Saratkar. The suspects in the case are the inspectors Hariharan, Parthiban, and Thirumalai.
(Inputs from Agencies)