DROs to handle Thevar’s gold armour: HC

MADURAI: As per the directives from Madurai bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday, Madurai District Revenue Officer R Sakthivel received the gold armour (kavasam) from a bank at Annanagar in Madurai on Wednesday evening, amidst tight security. It is meant to adorn the statue of freedom fighter Muthuramalinga Thevar at his memorial in Pasumpon village in Ramanathapuram district on the occasion guru puja and Thevar jayanathi celebrations on October 30.

The court further directed the Madurai DRO to handover the armour to Ramnad DRO and T Gandhimeenal, caretaker of Pasumpon Thevar Ninaivalayam to receive it.

AIADMK treasurer Dindigul C Sreenivasan in his petition stated that his party (AIADMK) has the responsibility of taking out the 13-kg gold armour from the bank locker attached to the joint account “AIADMK and Pasumpon Thevar Ninaivalayam” bearing account number 826310110012801 on October 25 every year and the bust of Muthuramalinga Thevar would be adorned with the said gold armour as it’s customary during guru puja.

Justice V Bhavani Subbaroyan, after hearing, ordered the branch manager of the bank to accept the signature of the Pasumpon Muthuramalingam Memorial Trust alone for the present year and the DRO of Ramnad district also to sign and receive the armour from the bank and take it to the venue of celebration. It would be the responsibility of the DRO to safeguard the gold armour and to redeposit the same into the bank after the ceremony is over. The Superintendent of Police, Ramnad district should provide adequate police protection while receiving the armour by the trust and DRO from the bank and continue to protect the same till it is adorned and redeposited into the bank.

Moreover, the Judge directed the A and B party of AIADMK not to interfere in the above said process.