No question of absconding: H Raja

Speaking to reporters in Nagapattinam, he said there was no reason for him to abscond. Asked about two special police teams formed to search for him, Raja said he was not aware of any such special team or why the teams were set up.

Regarding restrictions imposed by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, citing Agama shastras in connection with the Tamirabarani Pushkaram festival in Tirunelveli, he wondered why they were not followed when idols were kept on display at the government exhibition in Chennai.

“While allowing exhibition of idols, the HR&CE department is citing vedic rules to bring idols to the banks of the river for a holy festival like Puskaram. This is quite objectionable,” he said. Meanwhile, cases were continued to be registered in different police stations across the state against the senior BJP leader for his alleged defamatory remarks against late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and also against some temple staff. 

Police in Coimbatore and Thanjavur filed cases under various sections of the IPC against Raja for posting defamatory remarks in the social media against Karunanidhi some six months ago and temple employees and their family members respectively.