The district police have booked Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader TTV Dhinakaran and 17 other named persons on charges of tearing down the flex boards, featuring Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his colleagues in Pasumpon while arresting more than 50 of his supporters.
After AIADMK district secretary M. A. Muniasamy lodged a complaint, alleging that supporters of Mr. Dhinakaran went berserk, tearing down the flex boards when they visited Pasumpon to pay homage to freedom fighter Muthuramalinga Thevar on October 30, the Kamuthi police registered a First Information Report (FIR) arraigning 18 named persons, including Dhinakaran, disqualified MLA S. Muthiah, district secretary V. T. Anand and others.
The accused were charged under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons), 504 (breach of peace) of IPC, read with section 3 (1) of Tamil Nadu Property Prevention of Damage and Loss (TNPPDL) Act.
The police after identifying the supporters with the help of CCTV footages, had arrested six people on Thursday and 45 others on Friday.
“The search is on and all those involved in the act would be identified and arrested,” the police said.
On the reported statements made by AMMK leaders that they had nothing to do with the tearing of flex boards, police, citing CCTV footages, said those involved in the act had accompanied Mr. Dhinakaran and were also seen wearing T shirts of AMMK.
Mr. Muniasamy said the party had installed more than 200 flex boards and put up about 2,000 party flags on either side of the road from the entrance arch to the memorial to welcome the Chief Minister and other ministers.
After they had returned, supporters of Mr. Dhinakaran, who had come in the afternoon to pay homage went berserk, tearing down the banners, flex boards and removed the flag poles.
