Engineering student among 7 held for ransacking TASMAC shops

Police sources said that TASMAC shop number 2,219 was functioning at Kanuvai on Anaikatti Road for nine years. On May 6, it was relocated to a steel shed at Bharthi Park near Kanuvai. On Sunday evening, R Gunasekaran (50), a former union councillor, and farmers, G Ananth (38) and R Balaji (30), damaged the shop.

It is said that the trio came with logs to attack the salesmen Ganesan and Moorthy and damaged 2,137 liquor bottles. 

The trio was booked under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 448 (punishment for trespass), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 506(ii) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, read with 3 of the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act.

In another incident, Gomangalam Police registered a case against K Eswaran (31), a daily wage labourer, P Kumarasamy (48), lorry owner A Selvakumar and B Muralidharan (21) a final year engineering student and arrested them on Monday for damaging the newly opened TASMAC outlet at Thippampatti village near Pollachi on Saturday. 

A 100-strong mob targeted the shop located in the native village of deputy speaker of the Assembly Pollachi V Jayaraman. The arrested were booked under sections 147, 448, 352 (punishment for assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation) of IPC and 3 (1) of the TNPPDL Act. 

The public have been continuously ransacking government TASMAC liquor outlets and bars for some time now. While a majority of the protesters and those who damaged these two shops were women, only a handful of men have been arrested.