Law and Order debate turns TN Assembly stormy; AIADMK walks out

CHENNAI: A debate on the State's law and order (L&O) situation turned the State Assembly briefly stormy on Thursday after Chief Minister MK Stalin and Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami crossed swords over the issue in the backdrop of four back-to-back murders in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

While CM Stalin, armed with statistics, insisted that the highest number of murders recorded in the State was in 2012 during the previous AIADMK regime and the crime numbers have fallen in his incumbent regime, Palaniswami alleged steep deterioration in the L&O situation before marshalling his MLAs out of the House in protest of the Chair denying permission to detail the issue.

A persevering Palaniswami set the tone for the ear-splitting debate when he, after some resistance, drew the treasury benches' attention during the Zero Hour to four murders, including the hacking of history-sheeter John on the highway near Erode and a teacher burnt to death in Coimbatore on the same day the CM assured that his government would not allow anyone to take the law into their hands.

CM Stalin retorted: "You must not forget the incidents that took place in Thoothukudi and Sathankulam. We do not deny anything. What is important is whether we took action or not. We are not ready to say, I learnt it watching TV." When EPS said the government can't hide the murders taking place daily, an equally resolute Stalin said, "If you have courage, hear me before you leave."

In his specific response to the four 'murders' flagged by the LoP, CM Stalin said the preliminary investigations have revealed that the Coimbatore incident was a case of suicide, while the investigation was on in the Madurai incident. The CM also added that investigations revealed that the Sivagangai incident happened due to family rivalry.

Elaborating on the Erode highway murder, Stalin said history sheeter John aka Chanakyan of Kitchipalayam in Salem, who was out on conditional bail, was on his way to Tirupur with his wife when some unknown persons attacked them with a bill hook, killing Chanakyan on the spot. Stating that accused Saravanan, Sathish, Boopalan and Myna Karthik attacked the police while being intercepted near Pachapalli, the CM said three of the accused suffered injuries when the Chithode inspector shot them in defence. Preliminary investigation revealed that murdered Chanakyan was the second accused in the murder of a history-sheeter named Chelladurai in Salem in 2020 and the Erode murder could have been a retaliation, the CM said.