Bail for AIADMK activists

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, OCT. 19.A sessions court in Chennai today ordered the release on bail of 33 AIADMK volunteers who were arrested here on October 11, on various charges, including damaging public property, following the TANSI case verdict.

The principal sessions judge, Mr. S. Ashok Kumar, directed that the 33 persons be released on their furnishing sureties for Rs. 1,000 each. They should stay in Tiruchi after October 27.

Mr. M. Erasu of Ayanavaram and 32 other volunteers of the AIADMK's trade union wing and employed in the MTC, said they staged a fast seeking enhanced bonus on October 11 with prior permission. That afternoon they were all taken into custody and cases were foisted against them. They were charged with criminal intimidation, conspiracy and under provisions of the TN Property (Prevention of Damage and loss) Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act. Their bail applications contended that they were innocent of these charges, but had been falsely implicated in the case.

The AIADMK MP and party's legal wing secretary, Mr. Thalavai Sundaram contended that the charges especially under the TNPPDL Act seemed to hold good only for the AIADMK, but not against volunteers of the ruling party who damaged vehicles in Madurai recently. When the AIADMK made it an issue, the government had detained a few persons under the NSA for the Madurai incidents, he claimed.

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Section  : Southern States
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