Senior PMK leader and MLA ‘Kaduvetti’ J. Guru alias Gurunathan, already under arrest on charges of hate speech, was on Friday detained under the National Security Act, sources said.
Guru was issued a detention order this afternoon by the police after Kancheepuram Collector passed an order to this effect, they said.
Guru, PMK’s floor leader in the Assembly, is the third functionary of the party to be detained under NSA in the last one week.
In 2012, police registered cases under IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly) and 147 (rioting) against him for an inflammatory speech he allegedly made at Thazhambur in Kancheepuram district.
Two more cases were registered against him for his speech at the Chithirai festival at Mamallapuram.
He was arrested on May 3 and remanded to judicial custody.
The police on Thursday had taken Guru into their custody for two days for questioning and it ended today.
Parts of northern Tamil Nadu have been witnessing protests since last week following the arrest of the party founder Ramadoss and his son and former Union Health Minister Anbumani in connection with violence in Marakkanam in Kancheepuram district last month.
While Anbumani was released from jail on Thursday after a court granted him bail, Ramadoss continued to remain in judicial custody in Tiruchirapalli prison.
