Two days after the police arrested senior PMK functionary J Gurunathan alias ‘Kaduvetty’ Guru for threatening a former cadre, the complainant came forward to deny the charges, boosting PMK’s claim that the case was foisted to entrap Guru.

Gunasekaran, a former PMK man who joined the AIADMK, was attacked by a four-member gang including Guru at the latter’s residence on April 30, according to police in the latest case filed against the PMK strongman. Another complaint, this time from a woman cadre Selvi Selvam, was also cited as a pending case against Guru, who made the controversial speech that threatened attacks on senior DMK leaders.

However, on Monday, the authorities’ case was dealt a blow when both complainants reportedly expressed their desire to withdraw the cases against Guru, president of Vanniyar Sangam, a casteist outfit from which the PMK evolved.

“This shows that the cases registered against Guru were fabricated by the police at the behest of the DMK and its Government,” said PMK president G K Mani.

“Both these complainants have said today that the police threatened them into filing the complaints. Now we are looking at the legal steps that are to be taken to secure Guru’s release,” said K Balu, president of PMK’s legal wing.

Meanwhile, party cadres staged protests at many places across Tamil Nadu, especially in the Vanniyar belt in north Tamil Nadu. At Tiruppur near Coimbatore, a state-owned bus was torched by unknown persons on Monday morning. District police allege that PMK workers could be responsible for it though party leaders denied the charge.

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