The AIADMK on Sunday asked the DMK government how the report of the Aruna Jagadeesan Commission, which probed the police firing on anti-Sterlite protesters in Thoothukudi in which 13 persons were killed in May 2018, was “leaked”.
Recently, The Frontline, a sister publication of The Hindu, had exposed how the commission in its report, submitted to the government in May, held certain police officers and the then Thoothukudi Collector responsible for the firing. The Hinduhad independently verified the aspects flagged in the exposé. Later, a few other media organisations reported extracts from the report.
In a statement, senior AIADMK leader and former Minister D. Jayakumar said the ruling DMK had “failed to protect the government secrets” and sought the arrest of those responsible for the “leak”.
He alleged that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was staging a “drama” and questioned how the media got the report and sought Mr. Stalin’s resignation “for having failed to protect government documents.”
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AMMK founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran contended in a social media post that the “silence” maintained by the government on the report raised suspicion. “Are the reports about the DMK government attempting to protect certain police officers named in the report true,” he asked.
If justice was to be done to those killed in the police firing, the report should be made public and severe action taken against those named in it, he said.
After the police firing, the then AIADMK government constituted a commission of inquiry, headed by retired Madras High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan. The former judge submitted her report to the State government in May this year.
