CM Stalin dares LoP over ‘delay’ in Pollachi sex racket FIR
Taking strong exception to the averments made by the CM in the House on Wednesday, Palaniswami said that the incident occurred on February 12, 2019.
CHENNAI: Insisting that the previous AIADMK regime filed an FIR in the Pollachi sex racket only 12 days after the lodging of the complaint, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday dared Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami in the State Assembly to accept the ‘action’ he proposed if the latter was found to be factually incorrect on the matter.
Taking strong exception to the averments made by the CM in the House on Wednesday, Palaniswami said that the incident occurred on February 12, 2019. The complaint was lodged on February 24, and three accused were arrested in 24 hours based on crime 59/2019 in Pollachi East police station. He added that all the accused in the case are still in prison.
Questioning the claims of the LoP, the CM said, “The FIR was not registered immediately, but only after 12 days. What happened during the 12 days? Who were you trying to protect then? You delayed filing an FIR and the arrest of the accused.”
State HR&CE minister PK Sekar Babu joined the issue with the LoP and asked what was the State intelligence doing in the Pollachi sex racket, which went on for years in the AIADMK regime.
Affirming that the truths of the case, mainly the political affiliation of the accused in the Pollachi case, came out only after the CBI took over the probe, the CM reiterated that the accused in the Anna University sexual assault case was not a DMK member, but a sympathiser. CM added that the accused was arrested in a day and detained under the Goondas Act. Welcoming the expulsion of the AIADMK division secretary arrested in the Anna Nagar sexual assault case, the CM sought to know how they could expel a person (Gnanasekaran) from the DMK when he was not a party member.
State Social Welfare Minister Geetha Jeevan asked the LoP not to politicise the case when women were coming forward to lodge complaints. Justifying that they would not have raked up the Pollachi but for the government's delay, the CM questioned the AIADMK's 'badge' and protests on the AU sexual assault case, which prompted the LoP to doubt why the government challenged the CBI probe in the sexual assault case now.
As EPS refused to relent on the Pollachi case, the CM said, “I am ready for any action you propose if you prove I am wrong. Are you ready to accept the action I propose if you are wrong (in the Pollachi case)? I will present the evidence to the Speaker tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Duraimurugan intervened and said that it was up to the Speaker to pass a ruling now and that he must not allow further debate on the issue. Speaker Appavu offered to give a ruling on the issue on Saturday.