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TN orders judicial probe into police
excesses during Karunanidhi's arrest

The commission, headed by a retired judge of the Madras High Court, A Raman, would give its report within three months to the state government, an official release said in Madras.

The terms of reference of the Inquiry Commission would be to probe if there were any excesses on the part of police while effecting the arrest of M Karunanidhi in connection with a case registered with CB-CID headquarters in the Rs 12 crore (Rs 120 million) 'flyover' scam and the arrest of Union Ministers Murasoli Maran and T R Baalu on June 30, until their judicial remand.

The commission would inquire whether any police personnel present during the arrests were physically assaulted and obstructed from discharging their duties, whether there were any lapses on the part of the police and, if so, to suggest action to be taken against such erring police officials, it said.

The decision to appoint a commission of inquiry comes a day after Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa met Governor Dr C Rangarajan at the Raj Bhavan on Friday.

The probe effectively puts the entire episode on the back burner at least for three months, till the inquiry is completed. By this action, the state has also bought time for taking action against police officials who allegedly committed the excesses during the arrests.

On July three, short of exercising the extreme option of invoking Article 356, the Centre warned the Jayalalithaa government to mend its ways. The state was asked to 'rectify' all the 'violations' of law that took place during Karunanidhi's arrest.

The Centre's diktat also included taking action as per law against police officials who had committed the alleged excesses. It also sought a compliance report from the state government.

Jayalalithaa had maintained stoic silence on the episode especially after the receipt of the warning letter. State Chief secretary P Shankar had merely said the letter was being 'studied' by the government.

PTI

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