A Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the July 17 Kallakurichi violence informed the Madras High Court on Monday that it had arrested 40 individuals and three juveniles for rioting and damaging police vehicles as well as a private school building where a Class XII girl died on July 13.
Justice N. Sathish Kumar was also told that the SIT had arrested 13 other individuals who had shared provocative posts on seven WhatsApp groups and were instrumental in gathering the rioters. Further, 59 YouTube channels, 23 Facebook accounts and 7 Twitter handles had been blocked so far, the team said.
The submissions were made in a status report filed by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Pravin Kumar Abinabu, heading the SIT, which was constituted as per court orders to identify those who had instigated the violence and those who had been conducting a parallel trial on social media over the girl’s death.
The DIG stated that the assessment reports received so far from various agencies indicated damage to public as well as private properties worth ₹3.45 crore. He said a report from the Public Works Department on the damage to civil structure as well as electrical fittings in the school buildings was yet to be received.
The special team had so far examined 202 witnesses, including 68 injured police personnel, and collected 954 videos and 150 photographs related to the violence from various sources, including CCTV cameras, media clippings, police photographers and the general public, among others.
Expressing satisfaction with the probe, the judge directed the SIT to file its next report by September 17. He also insisted on winding up the investigation at the earliest. He perused a separate report filed by the School Education Department and appreciated it for the steps it had taken to provide psychological counselling to students.
