Are they extremists? TN Q branch police swoop down on two women over pamphlets protesting Neduvasal hydrocarbon project
SALEM: Even as the Tamil Nadu government repeatedly assured the agitating farmers that it was opposed to hydrocarbon extraction project at Neduvasal in the fertile Cauvery delta, it's police on Wednesday detained two women, including a post graduation student, for distributing pamphlets to college students seeking support for the protest.
The Q Branch of the State Police, the wing that deals with Maoists, Islamists, Tamil separatists and other extremist outfits, which detained Valarmathy (23) and Jayanthi (40) apparently suspected them of being part of a Left extremist group.
Valarmathy, said to be a mass communication student, and her friend Swathy's mother, Jayanthi, were distributing pamphlets to Government Womens Arts and Science College students in Salem on Wednesday morning. It urged the student community to support Neduvasal protest, where a group of farmers, activists and youth including students are staging an agitation against a proposal to dig wells to extract oil.
Based on information, Hasthampatti police and Q branch police went to the college at Gorimedu where they found the two women distributing the pamphlets to students. The two were detained on suspicion that they belonged to a Left extremist group; police sources added they were probing their background.