AAP leader held for talk against expressway

Based on a complaint lodged by the Kullapatty Village Administrative Officer (VAO) Langeshwaran, the Karipatty police registered a case in this connection and arrested Vaseegaran from his residence in Chennai on Wednesday.

The AAP leader had made the alleged provocative remarks in an interview to a private online news portal while opposing the Rs 10,000 crore highway project. He had also backed the controversial remarks of Tamil actor Mansoor Ali Khan, who was later arrested for making the comments. Referring to the controversial remarks by Mansoor Ali Khan, the AAP leader said, “Not just eight people, we will kill 16 people to protest against the project.”

The Salem police booked him under IPC sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to riot), 183 (resistance to the taking of property by the lawful authority of a public servant), 505 (1) (whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report), 505 (1)(b) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

Recently, police have also arrested environmentalist Piyush Manush and student activist Valarmathi for opposing the project. Meanwhile, people in Salem continued their protest against the project by jumping into a well at Parapatty village.

As farmers jumped into the well in protest, the police too jumped in the well and rescued the agitators. The Communist Party of India secretary R Mutharasan met the farmers to know their opinion on the green corridor project.

The project, which seeks to build a 277-km-long eight-lane highway connecting Salem in western Tamil Nadu and the state capital, has come in for opposition from some quarters and a section of farmers whose lands would be acquired.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami has defended the project saying it would stimulate growth like the Mumbai-Pune and Delhi-Agra expressway projects and that only a small section of farmers were opposing it.