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Tamil separatist leader held

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE July 6. The Bangalore Police have arrested a Tamil separatist leader, Nedunchezhian, on charges of taking part in a conspiracy to eliminate some pro-Kannada activists last year.

Thirteen persons, including Muthukumar, an associate of the forest brigand, Veerappan, have already been arrested in this connection and a large quantity of explosives seized.

It is alleged that Prof. Nedunchezhian and his associates hatched a conspiracy at his house in Tamil Nadu, where he had allegedly called upon his supporters to form a `Tamil nation'. This, they desired, should consist of the whole of Tamil Nadu, Bangalore, and Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka, Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, and Malappuram district in Kerala. According to City police, the meeting reportedly decided that this could be achieved only through an armed struggle with training from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka.

The separatists held another meeting here subsequently. Strong sentiments were expressed against the alleged injustices meted out to Tamilians during the Cauvery riots in Karnataka in 1991.

Prof. Nedunchezhian, a teacher in Tamil University, Thanjavur, was arrested by the Mannargudi Police in Tamil Nadu in 1994 under the TADA and had undergone imprisonment for six months. He was later released on bail. Subsequently, he violated the bail conditions and was said to be absconding, the City police said. One of his sons had gone to get training from the LTTE, but died at the hands of the Tigers, police added.

A resident of K.K. Nagar, Tiruchi, he was arrested in Tamil Nadu by a team of the Bangalore Police on July 4. He was produced before a magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody. The City police arrested Vijayamurthy and Shivakumar at the Banaswadi Railway Station and recovered a hand bomb and a pipe bomb from them in November last. Subsequently, police made more arrests and seized a large quantity of gelatin sticks, electrical detonators, non-electrical detonators, country-made pistols, chemicals used in explosives, hand bombs, and pipe bombs.

Interrogation of the accused revealed a conspiracy to create a Tamil nation at the behest of Prof. Nedunchezhian.

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