Tense moments prevailed at the international airport here on Sunday when an AIADMK member, who had come to receive former Chief Minister and AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) faction leader O. Panneerselvam, was detained after para-military personnel found a small knife on him. The man was later released after an inquiry.
The incident caused a flutter at the airport, where members loyal to AIADMK (PTA) had assembled to receive Mr. Panneerselvam, who is provided with CRPF cover under the ‘Y’ security category. The detained man – R. Solairajan of Tiruchi – was whisked away to the Airport police station.
Though preliminary inquiries revealed that the man had carried the knife into the airport by mistake, Mr. Panneerselvam told journalists that there was an attempt to attack him.
Airport sources said Mr. Solairajan, a cart pusher, had come along with MGR Mandram office-bearer Velmurugan to receive the former Chief Minister.
Mr. Solairajan, who was said to be drunk at that time, had a knife in his trouser which the police said he used to carry every time to cut wire loads while transporting them in the pushcart. The sources said Mr. Solairajan wanted to take a photograph along with Mr. Panneerselvam to use it in the flex board during his daughter’s wedding on August 27.
The sources said the knife which Solairajan carried inadvertently to the airport dropped from his trouser as he tried to enter the security cordon to take a snap with Mr. Panneerselvam. The CRPF personnel guarding Mr. Panneerselvam apparently noticed it and immediately detained him and handed him over to the Airport Police station for inquiry.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Sakthi Ganesan conducted detailed inquiries with Mr. Solairajan, Mr. Velmurugan and others at the Airport Police station following the incident.
‘A harmless person’
The Deputy Commissioner later told The Hindu that Mr. Solairajan was a harmless person and that he had forgotten to leave behind the knife in a hurry to rush to the airport on being told by Mr. Velmurugan about Mr. Panneerselvam visit.
The Deputy Commissioner made it clear that Mr. Solairajan had indeed come to the airport for a snap with Mr. Panneerselvam for using the image on a flex board during his daughter’s wedding this month-end. “There was no intention on the part of Mr. Solairajan to attack Mr. Panneerselvam,” the Deputy Commissioner said after a detailed inquiry.
However, carrying a knife in the security area of the airport was a wrong act. Moreover, he was in an inebriated condition for which a case under the City Police Act would be booked against Mr. Solairajan, he said.
A formal complaint was lodged by N. Manoharan, a former municipal councillor, seeking appropriate action consequent to the incident. Police sources said the matter had been conveyed to Mr. Panneerselvam over phone.
