Thoothukudi: Thirumurugan Gandhi, coordinator of the ‘May 17 Movement’, an outfit sympathetic to the cause of the Sri Lankan Tamils, produced before the magistrate court in Thoothukudi in a case filed against him in connection with the anti-Sterlite agitation was granted bail on Tuesday.
The Thoothukudi SIPCOT police registered case against Thirumugan Gandhi four months ago on April 16, 2018, for participating in an unlawful assembly at Kumareddiyapuram to address the anti-Sterlite agitators disobeying the order duly promulgated by the police under section 143 and 188 of IPC respectively.
In this case, he was produced before Thoothukudi magistrate court-3, which, however, released him bail in that case on a bail plea applied the same day by the anti-Sterlite forum of advocates.
Thirumurugan Gandhi, who was imprisoned at Vellore Jail in various other cases was brought to Palayamkottai central prison in Tirunelveli the previous night so as to be produced him before the magistrate court in Thoothukudi on Tuesday. Earlier while taken into the court, Thirumurugan Gandhi shouted slogans that he would continue his fight against the copper smelter plant even it obtains court sanctioning to operate till the court chamber.
Later, while going out of the court amid tight police escort, he shouted slogans against the state and central governments for backing the copper smelter plant and demanded the filing of murder charges againstthe then Thoothukudi district collector, Dr Venkatesh and then police superintendent, Mr. Mahendran, who, the activist alleged was partly responsible for the police firing on May 22, when 13 precious human lives were lost.
