Eleven DMK members were arrested on Monday morning for attacking mediapersons outside the residence of party treasurer M.K. Stalin’s on Cenotaph Road, Teynampet, on Sunday evening. They were remanded in judicial custody and lodged in the Vellore Central Prison.
Police sources said DMK youth wing members Murali, Aruldoss, Kamalakannan, Jayaprakash, Senthil Kumar, Devakumar, Murugan, Ashok, Rajesh, Vincent Babu, and Vinayagamoorthi assaulted cameramen and two reporters and damaged their equipment.
The journalists gathered outside Mr. Stalin’s residence after his announcement of resignation from all party posts, taking responsibility for the DMK’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
The 11, along with a group of unidentified men, assaulted and threatened two camerapersons and reporters. Some, armed with knives and clubs, arrived on motorcycles and in SUVs outside the office of a news channel at Nandanam and warned its staff, including women, of dire consequences. The journalists lodged complaints with the Teynampet and Saidapet police the same evening.
A group of mediapersons went to the office of the Commissioner of Police at Vepery, urging immediate action against the assailants.
The eleven men were apprehended by a team of the Teynampet police early on Monday and produced before the Saidapet court. They were remanded in judicial custody.
Slogans against media The suspects, led by Murali, the party’s youth wing functionary from Kattupakkam, threatened the journalists who thronged outside the Vellore prison, and the group raised slogans against the media and the ruling party, police sources said.
The police are yet to act on the complaint filed at the Saidapet police against the attackers on Cenotaph Road on Sunday evening.
