Police red-faced over PMK leader arrest

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.

Protests at Perambalur, Ariyalur, Villupuram and other areas where the party is strong also turned destructive with the party cadres allegedly damaging Government buses and property.

Alleging a nexus between the police and their political masters, Mani said that his party was of the view that most of the violent protests that happened in the state following Guru’s arrest, including burning of the bus in Tiruppur, were their handiwork to malign the party.

Ariyalur district police, who arrested Guru on Saturday morning, denied that they had compelled anybody to give a complaint against Guru, and were approaching the court to get Guru under their custody for questioning. “Once the chargesheet is filed, the petition can be withdrawn only in the court. Guru has been remanded till July 18 in the case and that will continue,” said Ariyalur Superintendent of Police Krishnamoorthi.

According to police sources in the district, the desire to withdraw the complaints may have come after intense pressure — both political and financial — and even threats from Guru and his followers. “Our intelligence sources reported that the complainants were made to sign on a blank paper into which the withdrawal announcement was written later,” alleged a senior official.

Guru, Ramadoss’s disciple No. 1

As the president of Vanniyar Sangam, Guru has considerable clout in the northern districts of the State including Ariyalur and Perambalur. He is also close to PMK founder S Ramadoss, who had earlier referred to Guru as his foster son.

Due to this closeness, whenever Guru raised issues with alliance partners — most recently with the DMK — it was said that he was doing so with Ramadoss’ consent, if not for Ramadoss.

When PMK unleashed a tirade against cinestar Rajnikanth for ‘glamourising’ smoking in his movie Baba a few years ago, Guru and his followers snatched the film’s prints to stop its screening in his hometown.

Closeness to our leader and his own rising clout in the Vanniyar stronghold had made the DMK wary of Guru, said PMK leaders, adding that this was the reason for his defeat from Jayamkondam Assembly constituency in the last election. Even Guru himself had openly alleged that DMK men in the area had a hand in his defeat by a little over 2,000 votes, though the parties had an electoral understanding.

While Guru enjoys considerable clout in his stronghold, there are many cases filed against him in several police stations of the area. Police sources claimed that Guru was also indulging in running kangaroo courts which earned him good money for settling issues.