Thoothukudi firing: CBI files case against cops, revenue officials

Thoothukudi/Chennai: A little over a month after being ordered by the Madras High Court to probe the Thoothukudi police firing on anti-Sterlite protesters on May 22, the CBI has now registered a case against 'unknown' persons and officials in the police and revenue departments.

These unidentified people have been booked for criminal conspiracy and disobeying law with intent to cause injury to person(s), amongst other sections.

The police firing had claimed 13 lives and led to strong protests from the opposition parties and rights groups, besides demands for action against the officials responsible-particularly the officer who had given the 'shoot'
order.

It was alleged that only a 'deputy tahsildar' was at the area and the order came from him, even though he was not authorised by law to do so. The opposition demanded to know why the district collector was not present at the protest site.

The local police had registered 243 cases in connection with the May 22 riot and aftermath — which was the 100th day of anti-Sterlite agitation in the town-but the state government later transferred the probe to the Crime Branch, CID, in view of the "seriousness and sensitivity" in the case.

Again, the investigation got transferred to the CBI following an order from the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on August 14, while hearing a PIL from K S Arjunan, the Thoothukudi CPI (M) district secretary.  

The court had ordered the agency to register cases on the complaints received against officials and police allegedly involved in the happenings of May 22 at Thoothukudi and investigate.

"It will be the duty of the CBI to get to the bottom of things and file such charge sheet/sheets, as the investigation revealed and necessitates", said the court, while ordering that the CBI director should appoint a special team to probe the case and complete investigation within four months. Accordingly, Deputy SP R Ravi of the CBI took over the probe, which also included the allegations of "public servant framing incorrect document with intent to cause injury, robbery, dacoity, punishment for criminal intimidation and acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention". While the opposition and rights bodies protested against the police firing, the government had blamed it all on intelligence failure. Until that day, all the anti-Sterlite protests had been peaceful and even the previous night, the agitators had held a meeting and decided to march to the district collector to present a petition and disburse after raising slogans for a while.

However, the morning saw a different scene enacted on the streets of Thoothukudi as the protesters changed the route of the march and eyewitnesses found 'outsiders' had infiltrated. The mob quickly turned violent and went on a rampage against public property and targeted the Sterlite residential complex.

The opposition leaders and rights activists accused the police of brutality in having snipers in plainclothes taking up positions on top of police vans to aim at particular persons and shoot to kill. Videos of this shooting had gone viral, with one video having the voice of someone in the background exhorting the sniper that "at least one" must die. However, the source of that voice remained unknown, so it is unlikely to stand the test of judicial scrutiny.

Justice K Chandru however feels that the CBI's FIR does not inspire confidence as it names 'unknown' persons despite the fact that the local police who had probed the incident knew very well the persons behind the firing. "The state police have got all the records and they knew very well who were posted on duty on that day in that area", he told DC.

"You could say 'unknown persons' if there were anti-social strangers who carried out the shooting but that was not the case. Registering case against unknown persons does not inspire confidence in the Central agency", said Justice Chandru, retired judge of the Madras High Court.