Viral Annamalai audio on PTR doctored: Madurai BJP office-bearer

CHENNAI: Even as the audio of the alleged phone conversation between BJP state president K Annamalai and Madurai rural district secretary Maha Suseendran has created a controversy, the Madurai district office-bearer has filed a complaint seeking action against former BJP leader Dr Saravanan for allegedly releasing doctored audio on social media.

In the audio, Annamalai and Suseendran were conversing about Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan insulting BJP cadre at Madurai airport where the body of slain soldier D Lakshmanan was kept to pay respects.

Annamalai, in the leaked audio, could be heard saying that he would unmask Finance Minister Thiaga Rajan before the public and do politics at another level.

In the police complaint, Maha Suseendran alleged that it was Dr Saravanan, who was the BJP Madurai president then, called party president Annamalai on phone and apprised the Minister of abusing party cadre at the airport. “I was accompanying the party president when Saravanan called over the phone. The party president was speaking with the speaker. While on the call, he asked me how long martyr Lakshmanan’s house was and asked how many people are at the airport. But, Saravanan convinced the party president to come to the airport and pay respects. We went to the airport and left immediately after paying our respects. We didn’t know what happened outside,” he wrote.

Suseendran urged the Madurai cyber crime police to check the call records of him, Annamalai and Saravanan to find out that there was no conversation between him and the party president at that time. He sought action against Saravanan for spreading a doctored video to bring disrepute to the party.

The DMK supporters on social media cited the audio conversation to allege that Annamalai was behind the slipper hurling against the state Finance Minister.