The Tamil Nadu police constituted a special team on Thursday, September 1 to investigate the attack on All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) headquarters on July 11. According to the complaint filed by the Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) faction of the party, a group led by O Panneerselvam (OPS) had ransacked the office and taken away several valuable documents. The EPS faction also complained that the attack took place precisely when the party general council was meeting at Vangaram to elect the new party office bearers. The complaint said that the OPS faction was disgruntled that the majority of the AIADMK cadres and local level leaders had migrated to the EPS faction.
The Tamil Nadu DGP has constituted a special CB-CID team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Venkitesan, which will have inspectors Latha, Ramya, Renuka and Selvin Sandhakumar as members. In the clash on July 11 between the supporters of EPS and OPS, 47 people, including two policemen, were injured. Several buses, cars, and two-wheelers were damaged and police had brought the situation under control and sealed the office after arresting a few of the protesters. Supporters of EPS and OPS clashed in front of the party headquarters — with some seen hitting each other with sticks and pushing each other. Both factions were also seen burning posters of each other. Visuals also showed some persons hurling stones at each other and some men damaging vehicles parked nearby.
With the OPS camp stoutly opposing the meeting to pick Palaniswami as the top leader, the party has installed entry control equipment like flap barriers and turnstiles to allow only authorised functionaries with access cards, seen as a first in Tamil Nadu by any political party.
The Madras High Court had, in a landmark order hearing the petition of O Panneerselvam, declared the General Council meeting of the AIADMK, as null and void.
(With IANS inputs)