SALEM : The Salem City police have registered cases against the sidelined AIADMK (Amma) leader T T V Dhinakaran and 36 of his supporters for distributing ‘seditious’ handbills ‘defaming’ the government. Four of them - former MLA Se Venkatachalam, Suriya, Chandran and general council member Kalaivani - were arrested on Monday morning. They were later remanded for 15 days by the the Salem Fourth Judicial Magistrate and lodged in prison. The action follows a complaint to the Annathanapatti police from the AIADMK Hasthampatti area secretary Saravanan against a campaign the Dhinakaran faction conducted on September 29. On Friday, the faction’s Salem Urban unit had distributed handbills in Dadagapatti in the city demanding that NEET be scrapped and criticising the Centre and State government.
The State was flayed for not protecting the interests of Tamil Nadu students in the matter. They carried photographs of Sasikla and Dhinakaran printed prominently. . Besides Dhinakaran, the Annadhanapatti police have named 16 people in the case, while 20 people are ‘unidentified’. Police sources said cases were registered against Dhinakaran and Pugazhendi as their names were mentioned in the pamphlets.
They have been reportedly booked under IPC sections 124 a (sedition - attempt to bring into hatred or contempt/ disaffection towards the government, 120 b (criminal conspiracy), 141 (unlawful assembly), 153 (wanton provocation with intent to cause riot), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 500 (defamation). However, neither the Annadhanapatti police nor the the City Intelligence wing could confirm the exact sections under which the case has been registered.