Tirunelveli MP S Gnanathiraviam, sons booked for manhandling BJP leader

According to sources, the whole dispute began when Baskar, a BJP member, allegedly made defamatory remarks about the MP.
Tirunelveli MP S Gnanathiraviam (Photo| Facebook)
Tirunelveli MP S Gnanathiraviam (Photo| Facebook)

TIRUNELVELI: Panagudi police have booked Tirunelveli MP S Gnanathiraviam, his two sons and over 20 other DMK functionaries for allegedly manhandling a BJP functionary following an election-related dispute in Avaraikulam village near Valliyoor on Saturday night.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, Tirunelveli SP N Manivannan said the MP and others people were booked under Sections 147, 294 (b), 323 and 506 (ii) of the IPC.

According to sources, the whole dispute began when Baskar, a BJP member, allegedly made defamatory remarks about the MP. "Baskar was allegedly manhandled and he was admitted to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital. Former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan met Baskar at the hospital and staged a sit-in protest at the Tirunelveli Junction area about 10.30 pm, demanding police to register a case against the MP," the sources added.

Following this, Panagudi police registered a case against the MP and his supporters. Meanwhile, the Junction police arrested Radhakrishnan and a few other BJP supporters for staging a protest without permission from the police.

Pon Radhakrishnan told mediapersons, "Gnanathiraviam threatened the functionaries of opposition parties during the local body polls. The MP has laid the foundation stone for resurgence of clashes, which the Tirunelveli district witnessed in the 1990s. The city police said that we cannot protest in their limits for an issue which broke out in the rural police limits. This is not acceptable."

Though the police released Radhakrishnan soon after the arrest, he slept on the police station floor itself. When contacted by The New Indian Express, MP Gnanathiraviam said he was not involved in this dispute and that Radhakrishnan was just politicising the issue.

Meanwhile, condemning the arrest of Pon Radhakrishnan, around 900 BJP cadre on Sunday staged road roko at 22 places, including Nagercoil, Kanniyakumari, Thuckalay, Marthandam and Colachel. The protesters were detained and later let free.

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