Police who were keeping a vigil at Seiyamangalam after the villagers assaulted an Inspector of Police and held him captive for four hours on Friday night, arrested stage artistes and an organiser for staging a play in the village on Saturday night violating police orders.
As a tense situation prevailed in the village after two groups clashed on Friday night and one group assaulted the Inspector of Police, attached to Abiramam police station, police ordered the stage artistes not to visit the village and stage any play, but they violated the order and staged “Valli Thirumanam” and landed in trouble.
The police said that as they anticipated trouble, they did not disrupt the play midway and arrested the artistes after they completed the play on Sunday morning.
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They were arrested under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promoted by public servant), and taken to Abiramam police station, the police said.
Those arrested included S. Kalaiarasi alias Sathya (30), who played Valli, the lead role in the play, S. Stella Mary alias Sivagami (29), a dancer, and R. Ramadoss (42), the organiser from Seiyamangalam.
When the artistes from Madurai reached Parthibanur on Saturday, the police told them about the volatile situation in the village and asked them to return but they insisted on staging the play, stating that they had received advance money from the organisers.
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Meanwhile, the police accused Seiyamangalam villagers of violating the orders of the police and the district administration every time they passed the orders.
In February last year, the villagers installed a Thevar statue without permission and in January this year, they took out a walkathon to the Thevar memorial in Pasumpon, the police said.
They staged a play on Saturday night violating police orders