CHENNAI: Taking strong exception to DMK president MK Stalin’s demand that Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami should step down from his post over the Sathankulam custodial death issue, Law Minister C Ve Shanmugam on Wednesday asserted that the AIADMK government would ensure maximum punishment to those responsible for the death of P Jeyaraj and J Benicks.
“The AIADMK government understands how deep the victims’ family must be hurting now. We will definitely provide justice to the family,” the Minister said in a statement. Pointing out that the incident was not akin to the usual lock-up deaths, the Minister said, “Strong charges have been levelled against police personnel, government doctor, judge, prison officials and many others.
The government is duty bound to find all truth in the allegations. The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court is directly supervising this case. To further avoid any room for apprehensions, the State government has decided to hand over this case to the CBI.” Slamming DMK president MK Stalin’s comments on the issue, the minister said that Stalin seems to be trying to hinder the investigation with a view to gain political mileage with the help of some media organisations that support DMK and its allied parties. Shanmugam also alleged that DMK youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin had travelled all the way from Chennai to Thoothukudi without a valid e-pass.