CHENNAI: Presiding over the first bench of the Madras High Court, Chief Justice Indira Banerjee on Monday opined that the Thoothukudi police firing incident in which 13 people were killed was a fit case to be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Since the State police are involved, the case can be investigated by the CBI, the bench, comprising the CJ and Justice P T Asha, orally observed when a PIL petition from advocate S Rajinikanth came up for hearing. This is the fourth PIL filed on the issue. The bench already ordered notice on the earlier petitions during the summer vacation.
In his petition, Rajinikanth submitted that the police had an intention of killing protesters. This was evident from the weapons used, he said. Apprehending that the government may protect the police, he prayed that the probe be transferred to the CBI. He asked the court to direct the government to register murder cases against the police personnel and pay `5 crores each to families of the 13 victims.
Earlier, Advocate-General Vijay Narayan said retired HC judge Aruna Jagadeesan had been nominated to probe the issue. The Bench directed the State to file its counter and the petitioner to file a rejoinder, if any, and posted the matter to July 6.
District administration starts removing acid
The district administration has begun preliminary works of removing sulphuric acid from the Sterlite Copper premises. This follows a complaint on a minor leakage at storage tanks of the solution. District collector Sandeep Nanduri said that removal of acid was being done on a war-footing.