COIMBATORE: IPS officer-turned-politician Kuppusamy Annamalai who joined the Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier this week was booked by Coimbatore city police on charges of unlawful assembly and violation of the Epidemic Diseases Act, said police.
Along with him, four other BJP functionaries -- district president R Nandhakumar, state general secretary GK Selvakumar, state treasurer SR Sekar and state vice president Kanagasabapathy -- were also booked.
According to sources, the Katoor police station in Coimbatore city has registered a case against the five on Friday under sections 143, 341, 269 and 285 of the IPC and section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act.
The Karnataka cadre IPS officer K Annamalai, who resigned from the service last September, joined the BJP in New Delhi on Tuesday in the presence of general secretary P Muralidhar Rao and the party’s Tamil Nadu chief L Murugan.
On Thursday, he arrived at the BJP party office on VKK Menon Road in Coimbatore. A group of party functionaries and cadres felicitated him in front of the office by offering a ‘Vel’ -- the divine spear of Lord Muruga. Later, he addressed the media as well as party members.
“The city police have taken action against the former IPS officer and other BJP functionaries taking into account that they have conducted a ceremony by gathering a crowd at a public place, while the lockdown protocol was in force in the city. So, police have registered a case against Annamalai, Nandhakumar, Selvakumar, Sekar and Kanagasabapathy,” said a police official.