Arrest real culprits: Ashok Kumar

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI, AUG. 29. The Principal Sessions Judge, Mr. S. Ashok Kumar, has directed the police to arrest the `real culprits' responsible for the attack on DMK cadres and members of the public during the party rally here on August 12.

When the bail application of 15 persons, picked up from Ayodhyakuppam here, came up before him, the judge said the petitioners had been accused of stone-throwing, and none of them was said to have used lethal weapons. This despite the fact that 27 processionists sustained serious cut injuries caused by lethal weapons, he added. The judge said television visuals showed a group, covering head and face with white cloth, inflicting injuries on the public and processionists.

``With so much improvement in technology, ascertaining their identities should not be difficult''. More so, because the police were said to have used 39 video cameras to record the entire procession.

Mr. Ashok Kumar also wondered how all the four persons who had sustained bullet injuries during the melee happened to be innocent bystanders, and none of them members of the unlawful assembly.

The City Public Prosecutor, Mr. T.V. Ganesh, said 10 persons from Ayodhyakuppam and seven processionists were injured in the stone- pelting, but none of them was part of the unlawful assembly.

If things were allowed to continue in this fashion and the real culprits were not brought to the book, nobody would be able to venture out to the beach area peacefully, Mr. Ashok Kumar observed. He posted the matter to September 5 on a request by Mr. Ganesh.

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Section  : Southern States
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