COIMBATORE: Tension gripped PN Pudur in Coimbatore after the police allegedly manhandled a DMK functionary near a polling station on Maruthamalai road.
The latter allegedly blocked the road after police forced DMK cadres to remove a shelter which was set up to distribute booth slips to the voters.
Sources say three shelters were set up by the BJP, the AIADMK and the DMK a few metres beyond the permissible distance of 200 meters from the polling station.
A police team led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Coimbatore Central) Naveenkumar visited the spot and asked the DMK cadre to remove the shelter and disperse the crowd. It had allegedly led them into a heated argument.
The DMK area secretary Bakiyaraj reportedly recorded the event on his mobile phone and the phone was allegedly snatched by a police officer, who then made the functionary sit on the road.
During the effort to remove him from the road, the officer and the DMK functionary got into a tussle. Then the police officer ordered his team to arrest the functionary, allegedly manhandling him and removing his shirt. The act was recorded by DMK cadre and the video began to do rounds online.
On being alerted, the DMK district secretary N Karthik and the functionaries of the alliance parties gathered and they held a discussion with the City Police Commissioner V Balakrishnan. The issue was later settled amicably.
BJP men injured in clash with VCK cadre
Ariyalur: Three people, including a BJP IT wing functionary, were injured in a clash between VCK and BJP cadre at Narasingampalayam in Ariyalur on Friday. A group of VCK workers canvassed votes for their candidate Thol Thirumavalan near a booth at a school in the village. Objecting to this, R Arun (23) of BJP informed the police, leading to a clash between the two cadre. Arun, J Ajith (23) and S Selvakumar (36), both VCK members, sustained injuries in the fight. The clash forced officials to suspend the polling for an hour. The voting resumed once the situation became stable.