CHENNAI/THOOTHUKUDI: He was the unintended symbol of one of Tamil Nadu’s deadly police firing tragedies. Images of the yellow T-shirt-clad Raja aiming and firing a Self Loading Rifle (SLR) at the crowd from a police vehicle went viral during the 2018 anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi sparking outrage.
Eight years after that fateful firing in which 13 people died, head constable Raja passed away at the age of 46 at a hospital in Thoothukudi on Tuesday, losing his final battle to a kidney illness.
Volume II of the final report of the Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission of Inquiry constituted to investigate the causes and circumstances leading to the opening of fire resulting in death and injury to persons on 22.05.2018 at Thoothukudi … submitted in August 2022 mentions the role of Raja under the subhead,
‘The Excess Indulged In By The Police - And The Resultant Impairment of Its Image’. According to the report, head constables Raja and Lakshmikanthan and constables Murugan and Jayaprakash (all Armed Reserve cops) were engaged in cooking food for the police personnel when they were asked to take 5 SLRs with 50 bullets to the collectorate where the riots and police firing had already begun.
After he reached the spot, on the orders of an inspector, Raja got atop the van and “opened fire twice according to the visual, though he claims he fired only once.”
The bullets “might or might not have hit anyone ... it hit the headlines in the newspapers and was subject of debate on the floor of the Assembly as well,” the 2022 report said, and rapped him for “opening fire blindfoldedly presumably in a show of heroism”.
The commission had recommended action against Raja and others for their irresponsible, reckless and authoritarian attitude which caused the loss of precious lives. Raja’s police compatriots are understandably disappointed by his demise. “He was a helpful and selfless person,” they said.
Even during the anti-Sterlite agitation, he aimed at the crowd only to deter them and not to harm anyone, said a policeman close to him. “The misportrayal of his picture connecting it to gunning down of civilians had distressed him deeply,” the policeman added.
An anti-Sterlite activist, who was part of the agitation, told TNIE that he indeed lost a good friend. “I do not know what happened during the 2018 firing incident, but no report indicted him. He is a nice person,” he said.
Thoothukudi SP Shiva Prasad and a large number of police personnel paid their respects during his funeral held at his house at the police quarters in Millerpuram on Wednesday. The body was buried with full police honour and 21-round gun salute.
Chequered history
Raja brought food for the police in the van, along with arms, as instructed by the Inspector General, said Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission report.
On an inspector’s orders, he got atop the van and “opened fire twice according to the visual, though he claims he fired only once”.
The bullets “might or might not have hit anyone ... it hit the headlines in the newspapers and was subject of debate on the floor of the Assembly as well,” the report said.
Raja died at the age of 46 at a hospital due to a kidney illness.