Gutkha stir: DMK MLA moves bail plea

N Karthik, who represents Singanallur constituency, along with party colleague Rangaraj, moved the district court a day after police registered cases against them and eight others and arrested seven of them. The bail petition is likely to be heard on Friday. 

Hundreds of DMK workers had laid siege to the office of the Coimbatore Superintendent of Police on Wednesday condemning the police for implicating a party functionary claiming that he was behind the gutkha manufacturing unit. They had also condemned the arrest of seven DMK functionaries on Tuesday for holding a protest in front of the gutka unit. 

Over 500 DMK workers, led by former Minister Pongalur N Palanisamy, gheraoed the SP office and shouted slogans against the police action.

Police then arrested hundreds of demonstrators and took them to a marriage hall. Police also arrested party men, who were on their way to participate in a demonstration, from Mettupalayam, Annur, Karumathampatty, Pollachi and Valparai. Police also made preventive arrests and deployed force in large numbers at important points across the city to maintain law and order. 

“The police have implicated former Kannampalayam Town Panchayat President Thalapathy Murugesan due to political reasons. The SP has been foisting false cases on DMK functionaries and was acting in favour of the ruling AIADMK,” said former minister Pongalur N Palanisamy, who participated in the protest.

He added that if the police failed to withdraw the false cases, a massive protest, led by DMK’s working president M K Stalin, would be organised on Friday. “Even this case should be handed over to the CBI,” he said.