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4 out of 17 policemen suspended over 2018 Thoothukudi firing
The action came days after the Justice Aruna Jagadeesan inquiry commission’s report was tabled in the state Assembly on Tuesday, recommending action against 17 police officers
Four police officers, including a deputy superintendent of police, were on Friday placed on suspension after an inquiry commission found them guilty of unprovoked firing against anti-Sterlite protesters, killing 13, in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district.
The action came days after the Justice Aruna Jagadeesan inquiry commission’s report was tabled in the state Assembly on Tuesday, recommending action against 17 police officers. Chief minister MK Stalin on Wednesday assured the assembly that those responsible for the police firing in Thoothukudi during the previous regime will be punished.
A DSP and three constables, who were charged by the inquiry commission with unprovoked firing against the anti-Sterlite protesters in 2018 in Thoothukudi, were placed under suspension by Tamil Nadu director general of police (DGP) C Sylendra Babu.
“The government suspended the DSP while the three constables were suspended by the respective district superintendents of police,” said an officer from the office of the DGP, requesting anonymity.
The suspended officers include Thirumalai, who was an inspector at the time of the incident and currently holding the post of DSP at the social justice and human rights unit in Tirunelveli district. The three constables have been identified as Sudalaikannu, Satish and Shankar.
Thirumalai had given shooting orders, according to the report. “The shooting indulged by SI (sub-inspector) Rennes, purportedly on the instructions of Inspector Thirumalai, was also not with the knowledge of the IG (Inspector General),” the report stated.
The commission’s findings described Sudalaikannu (of the Tirunelveli Armed Reserve) as an “ace shooter” who used a 0.303 mm rifle to open fire inside and outside the office of the Collectorate killing four protesters. “Sudalaikannu fired 17 rounds at Third mile and three rounds at Trespuram, killing three protesters including Jansi Rani of Trespuram. He also erased the armoury register and overwrote it,” the report stated. He got on the then Thoothukudi SP Mahendran’s vehicle and opened fire using a self-loading rifle (SLR) that was loaded with 30 rounds of bullets.
On May 22, 2018, 13 civilians were killed and hundreds sustained injuries while they were on their 100th day of protest against the expansion of the Vedanta owned copper smelting plant. The then AIADMK government closed the factory and constituted an inquiry commission led by Jagadeesan the following day. The commission’s report was tabled by the DMK government on Tuesday.
The report contended that there was an “instance of lethargy and indifference” from then chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) since he didn’t act on information conveyed to him by then intelligence officer KN Sathiyamurthy. The report recommended action against the then Thoothukudi district collector N Venkatesh, 17 police officers including Inspector General (South) Shailesh Kumar Yadav, DIG of Tirunelveli C Kapil Kumar, and SP of Thoothukudi P Mahendran.
