A total of 482 persons belonging to various political parties including the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi were arrested on Monday night.
They were held in connection with the trade bandh proposed to be observed on Tuesday and for participating in agitations demanding total prohibition on Tuesday.
Of the 482 persons, 191 were remanded to judicial custody, while the remaining 291 including three women who participated in road block agitations in all important towns in Vellore district were released on bail.
Bandh call fizzles
The bandh call had fizzled out since most of the shops and business establishments in the district were kept open. Autos and private buses too operated to full strength and normal life was not affected.
A large number of DMK workers staged a demonstration at Chittoor bus stand in Katpadi protesting against the move of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) to shift to a new location on the Cuddalore-Chittoor Highway an Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) outlet of TASMAC near the bus stand which was closed on Monday night due to objections from the DMK.
Students of the Government Law College blocked the Cuddalore-Chittoor Highway demanding the release of the college students who were arrested at Chennai on Monday for staging a demonstration demanding total prohibition. After the police personnel arrived on the scene and persuaded the students to go back to the college, the students dispersed. Earlier, they came in a procession from the college campus in B.T. College Road to the Cuddalore-Chittoor Highway.
The police had provided security to all the IMFL outlets of TASMAC in Vellore district on Tuesday in order to prevent untoward incidents.
