M A I N   N E W S

Jaya seeks CBI probe

CHENNAI, Feb 5 (UNI) — The bus burning incident at Dharmapuri on February 2 in which three college girls were charred to death, has cast its shadow on the byelections to three assembly seats in Tamil Nadu scheduled for February 17, with AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalitha expressing fears that it would adversely affect her party’s prospects in the poll.

In a memorandum submitted to Governor Ms Justice Fathima Beevi at Raj Bhavan today, she demanded a CBI inquiry into the tragedy.

Condemning the incident, she alleged that Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, his Cabinet colleagues and the police were currently engaged in a vigorous vilification campaign against the AIADMK by exploiting the incident.

It was necessary that the whole truth came out to assuage the feelings of the people as otherwise it would vitiate the political atmosphere in the state on the eve of the byelections, she said.

Ms Jayalalitha had said that the outcome of the byelections would be a barometer of the people’s perception of the present government and had succeeded in uniting all the opposition parties, with even the Tamil Maanila Congress, a one-time ally of the ruling DMK, pledging open support to the AIADMK nominees in the bypoll.

The February 2 incident has somewhat dampened this political victory with the ruling DMK and the government pinning down the AIADMK by blaming it for the gory incident.

Talking to newsmen after meeting the Governor, Ms Jayalalitha alleged that the whole incident was pre-planned by the ruling party for unfair electoral gains in the byelections.

Ms Jayalalitha’s meeting with the Governor lasted 15 minutes and it went off well, she told newsmen.

The AIADMK leader had heated arguments with the crew of a private satellite channel close to the ruling party as they tried to counter her allegation that the channel had positioned its camera crew near the spot where the bus burning took place because it had prior knowledge about the incident.

The state government had ordered a crime branch CID probe into the incident, which occurred on the day a special court convicted Ms Jayalalitha in a corruption case, triggering widespread violence by her partymen.

An AIADMK functionary who was wanted as the key accused in the incident has surrendered before a court in Salem.

There have been widespread protests by the student community against the incident and apparently fearing a backlash, Ms Jayalalitha today appealed to the students not to be misled by what she called the campaign of calumny unleashed by the ruling party.

She said it was mysterious that a police van which passed by when the bus was set on fire, did not stop at the spot. A fire station near the spot also did not take any action to put out the fire. The District Collector who arrived at the scene, instead of assuaging the feelings of the agitated students, had ordered a lathi charge, bursting of teargas shells and firing of buckshots to disperse them, she charged.

Meanwhile, Sun TV a Tamil satellite channel, today asked AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalitha to tender an unconditional apology and pay Rs 5 crore as damages within one week or face civil and criminal proceedings for defamation.

COIMBATORE (PTI): Tension continued in the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University campus here on Saturday with students agitated over the burning to death of three of their colleagues refusing to vacate the hostel until the Chief Minister visited them.

Stepping up pressure on their demand that Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi personally meet them and hear their grievances, more than 400 students, including 100 girls, assembled in the corridors of the seminar hall and refused to leave the campus, despite the authorities announcing the closure and asking them to vacate hostels by 0630 hours.