Sterlite...
According to police officers who asked not to be identified, Vanchinathan is a practising ad– vocate before the Madurai bench of the Madras high court and has been periodically visiting Thoothukudi, instigating villagers to protest against Sterlite Copper.
The copper factory of Sterlite in the coastal town has been a controversial one and locals worried about its environmental and health impact have been protesting its presence since the 1990s. Both Vanchinathan and another lawyer, Hari Raghavan of Thoothukudi, have been booked under three sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The sections include 353 (criminal force to deter public servants from discharging duty), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons) and Section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act, police said.
“Prima facie our investigation reveals Vanchinathan’s association with protests. After being produced before a magistrate, the accused is now lodged in Palayamkottai jail. We are looking out for the other lawyer,” Murali Rambha, superintendent of police, Thoothukudi, told Hindustan Times. So far, about 250 arrests have been made in connection with the last month’s violence, Rambha added.
The Madurai bench of the Madras high court earlier this week dismissed anticipatory bail petitions moved by the two lawyers.
“We strongly condemn the arrest of (Vanchinathan). He was arrested while he returned from New Delhi after attending a case before the Supreme Court, “said Jim Raj Milton, district secretary, People Right Protection Centre, Thoothukudi. Meanwhile, the Madurai bench on Thursday dismissed the charges framed by the police against Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI (M), office bearers who conducted a public meeting in violence-hit Thoothukudi district on June 18. The police filed a case against CPI(M) Thoothukudi district secretary K S Arjunan for violating a court order that allowed a maximum audience of 1,000 for its public meeting. The police claimed that 1,720 people participated and booked cases against the organisers.
Meanwhile, Sterlite has appealed afresh to the district administration demanding that its staff be allowed to attend to an acid leak, which according to an affidavit filed in the Madras high court is “serious issue and if not attended may lead to adverse ecological impact. “
Thoothukudi district collector Sandeep Nanduri dismissed Sterlite’s claim . “The minor acid leak has been arrested. Till now more than 1000 metric tonnes of sulphuric acid has been removed from the plant. In two days’ time, the storage tanks will be completely drained,” Nanduri said, adding that another 300 tonnes of acid need to be removed. of the witnesses, accused and stakeholders in the case,’’ said the report. The ACB had examined 18 witnesses in the case.
The investigation against Khadse began in 2016, after Gawande filed a complaint with the police alleging Khadse had misused his power as revenue minister to facilitate the deal to buy the land, owned by the industries department, for his family. Gawande had alleged that while the market value of the plot was ₹30 crore, Khadse paid only ₹3.75 crore for it to the original owner. He said the minister was eyeing compensation worth nearly ₹80 crore under the new Land Acquisition law for it. Khadse had become the first BJP minister who had to step down after such allegations after the party swept to power in the Centre and the state.
The plot’s ownership was controversial as the industries department acquired it in 1971, but the final award of the plot was not granted and the owner had not been compensated for it. The property card still had the original land owner’s name on it even though the plot was allotted by MIDC to 14 other units.
While Gawande will be filing a protest petition, another activist, Anjali Damania, has already filed one questioning the investigation.
“To give a clean chit on the grounds that the minister’s wife and son-in-law did not intimate him about the land deal is laughable,” Gawande said. “Did he just coincidentally hold an official meeting to ensure greater compensation to the owner for the land? By scrapping the minutes of the meeting, can you undo your action. There are various strands in the ACB report itself that call for an in-depth investigation,” said Gawande.
On the meeting that Khadse held on April 12, 2016, the report said that a scrutiny of the payments made by Khadse’s family to the original land owners of the Bhosari plot showed all heirs of the plot, except one, were paid on April 27, 2016 — 15 days after this meeting). “But, the payment to one of the heirs, Hasnain Ukani, for his share of ₹50 lakh was done on March 11, 2016. This shows the meeting held in the minister’s chamber on April 12, 2016 to discuss compensation for Ukani’s family was after the deal for purchase of this plot had been fixed by Khadse’s family, and a part of the first instalment had been paid,” the report said. “This gives rise to suspicion that the meeting was held by Khadse to benefit his family.”
Activists continued to allege that the meeting and its recorded minutes showed Khadse had misused his powers to facilitate a deal for his family, but the ACB report said the minutes could not be considered “conclusive”.
In the meeting, Khadse gave directives to the industries department to either give the plot back to the owner or give compensation as per the Land Acquisition law.
Under this law, the compensation to the owner would have been four times the value of the plot. The report states : After the minister realised that a high court case for compensation for this plot was pending since 2015, he decided to cancel the minutes. Also, the minutes were in the form of a rough draft, they had not been finalised or issued with the minister’s signature. Khadse said he would not comment on the ACB report, as the matter was pending in court.
“The ACB has submitted a closure report, which says there is no case against me. They have found no substance in the allegations. But, a clean chit can only be given by a court.’’
On the cancelling of the minutes of the meeting, Khadse said, “The recorded minutes of the meeting were not cleared by me or issued in my name. They were scrapped after it came to light that a high court order was pending in the matter.”