DMK functionary, aide held for slander

Coimbatore

Their arrest was made following a complaint by MLA A Shanmugam on May 28 accusing the DMK functionary of postign defaming content on Facebook claiming that the Minister and the MLA were facilitating the smuggling of sand, quarry stones and liquor in trucks to neighbouring Kerala through Veerappagoundanur check post.

After investigations, police found that the post was made from the mobile phone of Selvaraj’s personal assistant Keerthi Anand. Then a team of police picked up Anand from Valparai on Saturday evening and were heading to Kinathukadavu station, when a group of around 50 DMK cadre, led by Selvaraj, blocked the vehicle near Aliyar Forest Department check post and freed Anand by force. The duo was arrested and produced before a magistrate on Sunday morning and remanded to judicial custody.

Prior to his arrest, Selvaraj told media persons that the police and revenue department were turning a blind eye to the trucks smuggling quarry stones and sand to Kerala almost on a daily basis. “Even a two-wheeler rider was injured after a boulder fell off from a truck near Singaiyan Pudur on May 26. So, I questioned if the trucks were involved in the illegal act at the behest of Minister Velumani and his benamis in Kinathukadavu,” he said.