VAIKO’S PARTY ORGANIZING SECRETARY SURRENDERS TO POLICE Q BRANCH IN CONNECTION WITH LTTE CASE

By Walter Jayawardhana

Vaiko led Marumalrch Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) Organizing secretary, Seema Basheer has been arrested by the Q branch of the Tamil Nadu police in connection with the case of smuggling bomb making material to the Sri Lankan terrorist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. (LTTE)

Basheer has been suspected of laundering money in this case where several people are suspected of procuring and smuggling bomb making materials to Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. Although Basheer has been giving the slip to the police when they visited his house to question him he voluntarily surrendered to the Q Branch of the Tamil Nadu police who are investigating into the LTTE and other terrorist related cases in the South Indian state.

Meanwhile, Rameshkumar, a suspected LTTE supporter, who had been running a soap factory in Perambalur, from where the aluminium ingots meant for bomb making were to be moved to Sri Lanka, and who has been absconding from the police so far also surrendered before a metropolitan magistrate in Chennai.

But MDMK Secretary Vaiko Gopalaswamy issuing a statement said that his party functionary Basheer has been framed for political reasons by the DMK administration in the South Indian state.
Police said since the arrest of Barakath , a DMK functionary and on the information supplied by him , they have been watching Basheer of Vaiko’s party for several days.

The police took Basheer to a municipal magistrate of Tiruchirappalli to be remanded.Vaiko accused that Basheer has been framed to demoralize other functionaries of his party. In the last Tamil Nadu assembly elections, Basheer lost to DMK General Secretary K Anbazhagan by a narrow margin of over 400 votes in Chennai Harbour seat. Vaiko said although he has been supporting the LTTE he has never involved his party in any unlawful activity in Tamil Nadu. Describing the arrest as a politically motivated move against his party workers Vaiko said they would never be cowed down by such threats.

The other person, Rameshkumar, the soap factory owner who surrendered to a municipal magistrate has been absconding many days from the police. The magistrate remanded him into judicial custody for fifteen days. But the Q Branch of the police said they would be filing a separate motion to take him to their custody for questioning on the case.

With the surrender of Rameshkumar the number of people in the custody of this case has risen to eight people.