The Madras High Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to 70 persons booked in connection with the violence inside and outside the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) office at Royapettah in Chennai on July 11. The relief was granted on the condition that each of them should pay ₹20,000 to Adyar Cancer Institute.
Justice N. Sathish Kumar accepted a request made by Additional Public Prosecutor E. Raj Thilak to impose severe conditions on the accused who had filed five different petitions apprehending arrest in the three July 11 violence related cases, which were recently transferred from the Royapettah police to the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID).
The judge also directed the petitioners to appear before the CB-CID and cooperate with the investigation. The violence had broken out between the supporters of AIADMK leaders Edappadi K. Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam when the latter visited the party office on the day when a general council meet was taking place at Vanagaram.
Public property was damaged, and the AIADMK office was also ransacked. This lead to the registration of three different First Information Reports (FIRs). Subsequently, a fourth FIR was also registered on the basis of a complaint of theft given by Member of Parliament C.Ve. Shanmugam against Mr. Panneerselvam and his supporters.
All four cases were recently transferred to the CB-CID for a joint investigation.
