The Tamil Nadu government has suspended a Deputy Superintendent of Police and three police constables in connection with the May 2018 police firing in Thoothukudi which claimed 13 lives.
A couple of days after the Aruna Jagadeesan Commission’s report was tabled in the Assembly, the Home Secretary ordered the suspension of DSP Thirumalai and others. An explanation was sought from senior police officers as to why appropriate disciplinary action should not be taken against them, police sources said.
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The Commission found excesses on the part of several police personnel in the firing which left 13 anti-Sterlite protesters dead.
The report named 17 police officers, including the then Inspector-General of Police (South Zone), Shailesh Kumar Yadav, the then Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Kapil Kumar C. Saratkar, the then Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police, P. Mahendran, the then Deputy Superintendent of Police, Lingathirumaran, and the then inspectors, Thirumalai, Hariharan and Parthiban.
Legal opinion
According to a senior police officer, the government would take legal opinion on further action against the police officers named in the report.
“The Central Bureau of Investigation has already investigated the case and filed the charge-sheet. The Commission’s report is only a set of recommendations which the government will consider on merit. The further course of action will depend on the explanations received from the officers named in the report,” a top ranking police officer told The Hindu on Friday.
However, in March this year, the Anti-Sterlite People’s Movement expressed concern that the central investigating agency had not charge-sheeted police personnel involved in the firing.
It argued that the CBI had filed a charge-sheet against 101 people who protested against the Sterlite copper unit in Thoothukudi. But even after four years, a charge-sheet was not filed against the police personnel involved in the firing.
