Armstrong murder: Congress, BJP chiefs engage in war of words

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President K Selvaperunthagai and his BJP counterpart K Annamalai were engaged in a statement war after the two traded charges against each other in the backdrop of BSP state president Armstrong's recent murder in the city.

Selvaperunthagai set the tone for the war of words after he alluded to reported links between the accused in the Armstrong murder case and Arudhra Gold case in which a few persons with alleged BJP links were involved.

Urging the state police to examine the links, Selvaperunthagai claimed that a 32-page intelligence report revealed that about 261 'convicts' have been appointed as leaders in the state BJP. He also insisted that the background of Annamalai quitting IPS service in Karnataka must also be examined.

Responding to the charges, Annamalai said, "As a former rowdy sheeter, Selvaperunthagai might know these things. I don't know if the accused informed Selvaperunthagai before committing the crime or if he has taken charge of the post of state DGP."

Claiming that he was lodged in prison on the basis of foisted cases in 2003 at the behest of the RSS when BJP was in power at the Centre, Selvaperunthagai said, "I moved a petition in the court seeking CBI or CBICID probe into the cases against me then. The judge ordered the transfer of the case to the CBI. The Tamil Nadu government and then public prosecutor I Subramaniam offered to withdraw the cases against me or consented to the court quashing the cases. I didn't do it. When the court asked me, I submitted that the case trial must continue. I insisted that they (the government) must admit to my innocence. This is my history and tradition. You (BJP) belong to the tradition of tendering apology and cowering. How is it fair on the part of Annamalai to make such incomplete statements without reading the HC order and the police officers' submission?"

The TNCC chief also demanded an apology from Annamalai.

Reiterating that Selvaperunthagai was a history-sheeter, Annamalai said that he would never apologise for the "history-sheeter" remark and the Congress MLA was the prime accused in the auditor Pandian murder case and he was jailed under the Goondas Act too.

"Can Selvaperunthagai deny that he was arrested in the Goondas Act? How else does he expect to be referred to rather than a history-sheeter? A living Mahatma? If he joins a party for political gains and to escape from the criminal cases, and dramatises that he was raised in the way of Mahatma Gandhi, does it mean that the crimes he committed were not true?" Annamalai questioned in a social media post, daring to face Selvam's defamation suit legally.