THOOTHUKUDI: The Central Bureau of Investigation, which named 30 more people for rioting and other offences in its second and final supplementary chargesheet filed in the anti-Sterlite protests case, said police had to resort to firing near Thoothukudi collectorate campus on the orders of revenue officials after a violent mob triggered fire by using explosives inside the Tamira quarters of Sterlite employees, located adjacent to the collectorate, and damaged public properties including vehicles, hoardings, lights, glass panels, and CCTV cameras.
The rioters were later chased away by use of controlled firing by police, the CBI said in its chargesheet filed before the Madurai Chief Judicial Magistrate on May 11.
On the legality of the firing order issued by deputy tasildhar Sekar, who was not a designated executive magistrate for the collector office area, the CBI said Rajkumar Thangaseelan (designated executive magistrate for the area who later died) had left the scene after seeing the mob and Sekar, who came along with the protesters, had to issue the order. There was no criminality in it, the chargesheet filed by DSP R Ravi said.
"The act of police opening firing at the protesters was not predetermined and it was done as a last resort to prevent further untoward incidents, though the death of 13 persons in the firing was very unfortunate," the agency said.
So far, CBI had chargesheeted over 101 protesters and an inspector in the anti-Sterlite protests case. The agency has been investigating the Thoothukudi police firing case that left 13 dead on May 22 and 23, 2018, after the Madras High Court transferred the probe into 207 cases from the CB-CID to the national agency on August 14, 2018.
According to the chargesheet, “Only a handful of rioters whose acts were caught on camera/CCTV footage and their identity established beyond doubt have been chargesheeted despite large-scale violence and huge damage to public and private property."
Investigation disclosed that 30 people had formed ‘unlawful assembly’ along with unidentified people with full knowledge of the prohibitory orders, indulged in violence and rioting, and some of them also carried deadly weapons. They attacked and chased away policemen who were on public duty. They also assaulted policemen who went to prevent rioting, and voluntarily caused hurt to them by using dangerous weapons, the probe agency said.
Citing its investigation, the CBI also said 153 vehicles, including private ones, were damaged and burnt during the two-day riot as per RTO reports and 59 police personnel had suffered simple/grievous injuries. A large number of protesters from different parts of the district and the State took part in the protest in which a handful of them took law into their own hands, formed unlawful assembly, indulged in large-scale rioting, and confirming their identity became a tedious task, the agency said.
The anti-Sterlite movement became a massive people’s movement supported by political parties and other sections of the society. The State government had failed to gauge the sentiment and strength of the movement.
Prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC were issued barely a few hours before the scheduled protest on the 100th day on May 21, 2018. This led to lack of coordination among government authorities resulting in complete chaos and the protesters outnumbered the police.
"There were glaring lapses found on part of the senior revenue administration and the police officials, which require departmental actions," the CBI said.