Pushed to wall,DMK hits streets against false cases on partymen

Having been relegated to the back row of the Opposition benches,the DMK staged protests against the new government.

Having been relegated to the back row of the Opposition benches,the DMK on Monday staged protests against the new government for allegedly unleashing legal terror by filing false cases against party members,even as a fresh complaint was filed with the Chennai city police commissioner charging members of Karunanidhi family with usurping a piece of land that originally belonged to a trust.

All across Tamil Nadu,thousands of cadres led by leaders,including party treasurer and former deputy chief minister M K Stalin,staged protests against the torrent of land-grabbing cases registered against the leaders and cadres,an act which party president M Karunanidhi alleged was vindictive on the part of the AIADMK government.

As the DMK men did not have the mandatory permission to stage their protest,they were soon detained,but released later. When we were in power,the then opposition party AIADMK was never denied permission to stage peaceful protests anywhere in Tamil Nadu. It is condemnable that the present government has not given us permission to stage a democratic protest. If it continues with this attitude,DMK will organise more protests and fill prisons, said Stalin,leading the agitation in front of Chennai collectorate.

Apart from Stalin,city mayor M Subramaniam and actor-politician Khushboo were detained in Chennai while Pongalur Palanichamy in Coimbatore,N Suresh Rajan and Helen Davidson MP in Nagarcoil,Durai Murugan in Vellore,K N Nehru in Tiruchy,Pon Muthuramalingam in Madurai and Periyakaruppan in Sivagangai were among those who were briefly detained and let off by the police along with hundreds of supporters for staging protests without permission.

Meanwhile,a trustee approached the city police commissioner on Monday with a complaint that a seven-acre plot of land that belonged to the trust was grabbed by a group of people owing allegiance to a DMK leader.

According to Ranga Reddy,an assistant of former minister Parithi Ilamvazhuthi took over the possession of the land,valued at around Rs 200 crore,using fake documents. The DMK leader and two functionaries were signatories as witnesses. The property later changed hands to a construction company which,the petitioner alleged,was operated by Stalins son,Udhayanidhi Stalin,and plans were afoot to build a residential complex on the trust land.

Reddy claimed the trust had preferred a complaint with the police last year,but was threatened into withdrawing it.

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In a statement issued on Monday,Rajathiammal,Karunanidhis wife,claimed that no Ramesh,arrested in Tiruchy on Sunday in a land-grabbing case,had ever worked with her and that she was in no way connected to the case.