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Accused a supporter of DMK, not member: Stalin on Anna varsity case
Stalin said that the accused in the Anna University sexual assault case is a sympathiser of DMK but not a member.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin admitted on the floor of the state assembly that the accused in the Anna University sexual assault case is a sympathiser of his Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), but not a member and promised that his government would ensure justice for the survivor.
A Madras high court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) began probing the crime after the Chennai police arrested the lone accused Gnanasekaran, a biryani vendor next to the campus of the city’s premier engineering institution.
“I assure you that the accused who has been arrested is not a DMK member but he is a DMK sympathiser,” Stalin said days after opposition parties AIADMK and BJP released photos of him with DMK leaders and of him attending the ruling party’s public events. “If the accused had not been not arrested or if the accused was being shielded, the government can be blamed. But he was arrested within a few hours.”
AIADMK MLAs wore black in protest and also claimed that there was a second accused. The police have denied this and Stalin asked the opposition to give evidence to police, if they have any, of a second accused. The survivor, in her complaint had said that the accused spoke to someone over phone calling him “sir” during the assault. While police said that the accused put his phone on airplane mode and pretended to receive instructions from someone to instil fear in the survivor, the AIADMK has been insisting that there is a second accused with some members sporting badges with the legend “Who is that ‘sir’?” in Tamil.
“The opposition asks, ‘Who is that, ‘sir’?’ If you have evidence, please provide it to the SIT instead of indulging in cheap activities for short-term political gains,” Stalin said in the assembly.
In her complaint to the police, the woman said she was with a male friend behind a building on December 23 when the accused threatened them. He first assaulted her male friend, a third-year student, before sexually assaulting her. She filed the complaint the next day and the 37-year-old accused was soon arrested. The Madras high court had criticised the city police over the leak of the FIR in the case and transferred the probe to the SIT comprising three senior women IPS officers who are probing the crime as well as the leak which revealed the survivor’s identity.
