Back on the flyover

Karunanidhi8217;s arrest in 2001 had been one of the most dramatic political arrests. When a team of handpicked senior policemen swooped down on Karunanidhi8217;s Oliver Road residence in Chennai in the wee hours of June 30, 2001, little did they realise that their actions would have such serious political ramifications. The arrest episode forced the then Tamil Nadu Governor, Fathima Beevi, to resign and also threatened to unseat the Jayalalithaa government. The DMK was a senior partner in the then BJP-led NDA government.

The arrest evoked violent protests with Karunanidhi8217;s family members alleging police excesses and the DMK partymen demanding dismissal of the AIADMK government.

A distraught Karunanidhi told reporters soon after the arrest: 8216;8216;They pushed me, they dragged me. They tore my shirt.8217;8217; The Sun TV crew that landed on the scene minutes after the arrest captured rather graphic clips and beamed it on all its regional channels repeatedly during the next few days.

There was more drama as then Union Ministers, Murasoli Maran and T R Baalu, attempted to block the way of policemen and they were arrested for allegedly assaulting the police. They were released after a couple of days following pressure from the Centre.

Rattled by the dramatic video clips on Sun TV and public outcry against the manner in which the former chief minister was arrested, Jayalalithaa said it was 8216;8216;totally false and part of a motivated, slanderous campaign of calumny8217;8217; being carried out by the DMK.

Karunanidhi was remanded to judicial custody until July 10 on charges of corruption. So was his son, M K Stalin. Karunanidhi was named accused number two after Stalin.

ABOUT 10 flyovers were built in Chennai during 1996-2001 when Karunanidhi was chief minister and his son was the mayor of Chennai. They were charged with conspiring in the selection of locations for the flyovers, in the appointment of consultants for preparing detailed project reports and award of contracts. The father-son duo was also accused of inflating the rates of the materials resulting in the loss of more than Rs 12 crore to the Chennai Corporation. Twenty others, including two former chief secretaries and two serving IAS officers, were cited as accused in the FIR.

The then Vajpayee government reacted strongly to the arrest even hinting that it would not hesitate to impose President8217;s rule if the Tamil Nadu government did not abide by the directives that the Centre had the right and duty to issue under Article 355. Article 355 empowers the Centre to protect states against external aggression and internal disturbance.

NEARLY four years after the controversial arrest, on May 26 this year, the state Crime Branch-CID submitted the final report in the case before a city court. But the report has not been taken on file as it does not have the Central sanction to prosecute two serving IAS officers. 8216;8216;We are awaiting some government sanctions,8217;8217; K V S Moorthy, ADGP, told The Sunday Express.

The police had apparently sought more time from the court to submit the Centre8217;s sanction to prosecute the two IAS officers8212;P. Kolappan, former commissioner of the Chennai Corporation and S. Malathi, former secretary of the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department.