VILLUPURAM: A fortnight after the Madras High Court ordered the arrest of 32 cadre of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) for setting afire houses during the 2013 Marakkanam riots, the police on Thursday arrested 10 people. The accused were produced before a Tindivanam court and remanded in judicial custody on Friday.
The arrest comes after the High Court took up a case of arson attack, which left many houses gutted, filed by one Ashok Kumar, seeking compensation for the losses suffered in the aftermath of the riots. The court had on August 29 ordered the arrest of 32 of the 34 accused and directed the police to produce them before the Tindivanam Additional Judicial Magistrate Court-II, which was hearing the case.
On April 25, 2013, the Vanniyar Sangam organised a Chithirai Full Moon celebration at Mamallapuram, where thousands of Vanniyar Sangam and PMK members thronged via the Puducherry-Chennai East Coast Road. However, a clash broke out between the revellers and the locals at Kazhikuppam near Marakkanam.
As the two groups attacked each other, 11 houses, four TNSTC buses and a petty shop were set ablaze. A PRTC bus and two cars, one of which belonged to the then Superintendent of Police, Manogaran, were also damaged.
PMK members Selvaraj (25), who was admitted to the Government Villupuram College Hospital and Vivek (17), who was admitted to a government hospital in Puducherry, succumbed to injuries sustained in the clash. The Marakkanam police registered cases against 1,512 people from both groups. On May 9, the CB-CID registered a murder case against Manigandan, Ragu, Senthilkumar, Parinathan, Raju and Sekar, of Kazhikuppam, for killing Selvaraj.
The trial of the case was held the at the Additional Judicial Magistrate Court II in Tindivanam and on February 3 this year, judge P Selvamuthu Kumari pronounced the accused guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment, besides slapping a penalty of `10,000 on each. Meanwhile, Ashok Kumar moved the High Court, seeking compensation for gutted houses. The High Court on August 29 ordered the arrest of 32 accused and based this order, a police team, under Marakkanam police inspector Chandirasekar, visited Vallampadugai near Chidambaram in Cuddalore on Thursday evening . Under the guidance of Kottakuppam deputy superintendent of police S Gnanavel, the team arrested 10 of the 32.