The other cases include Crime Nos. 377, 378, 379, 380 and 391 of 2000, all relating to desecration of idols of Hindu deities in villages surrounding Melapalayam. Rasool Mohammed and eight others had been booked under Sections 153 A and 120 B of the IPC in all these cases.

According to the police officer, the offences were “committed with a motive to trigger communal unrest in the area” followed the murder of a local Muslim in KTC Nagar in Palayamkottai near Tirunelveli in 2000.

Tirunelveli, with its large concentration of Muslims, is considered a communally sensitive district. In fact, Palayamkottai was in the news in December last year when an e-mail threatening to bomb Parliament House was traced to a cyber cafe here. While several Muslims in the area were questioned, the police were unable to nab the person behind the threat mail.

There are also allegations that the ruling DMK was bending backwards to appease its electoral ally, the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK). A section of the police believe that the dropping of the six cases by the DMK government could be part of a pre-poll deal with the TMMK.