Nearly 500 police personnel were deployed for Vijay''s rally in Karur: ADGP
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Karur (PTI): Tamil Nadu ADGP (Law and Order) S Davidson Devasirvatham on Sunday said nearly 500 police personnel were deployed for Actor-Politician Vijay's Karur rally where a stampede claimed lives of 40 people.
Referring to the findings of the preliminary investigation, he denied the claims of a section that there was a stone pelting during the rally.
Briefing reporters accompanied by District Collector M Thangavel, the top police officer, said, "In the first petition presented by the TVK on September 23, they asked for the Lighthouse-Roundabout junction for their leader to deliver the address. But, it was rejected as it is a high risk place and if there is a dense crowd, it will be difficult to conduct a meeting," he said.
Again, TVK had petitioned asking for permission in the Roundabout or Uzhavar Sandhai and it was rejected as it is a 'narrow area' and cannot accommodate dense crowd, he said.
Police department suggested a place where another public meeting was conducted by the Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami on September 26, in which 12,000 to 13,000 people gathered, he said.
"On September 26 they (TVK) presented another petition and received the approval to hold the meeting where it was held yesterday (September 27)" he said.
"As per preliminary investigation, large number of people were arriving at the venue at 12 noon without having breakfast and they did not have lunch as well. No food or water was supplied to them by the organisers," he said.
"As their (TVK) leader started the campaign behind the scheduled in the morning, he left Namakkal by 4.15 pm and reached the venue at 6pm (in Karur). It was supposed to be a 30 minute journey. But it took almost 2 hours for him. Since, all the people were standing without food and water since morning, they became restless and anxious," he said.
Some of them were travelling behind Vijay's vehicle and due to this, there was a further delay of an hour for them to reach the designated spot, he said.
"It is at that time incident has occurred. We will investigate what led to the incident," he said.
The police official also clarified that depending upon the crowd, police personnel are deployed for such public meetings. "If there is a loose crowd, one police officer will be deployed for every 10 feet and if there is a standing crowd, one policeman will be there for security for every 5-7 feet. Suppose, if there is a dense crowd, one police man will be there on duty for every 4.5 to 5 feet," he said.
Similarly, he said, one police man would be deployed for 250-300 people if it falls under low-risk category, and if its moderate category, one police man will be there for security of 100-150 people and if it is high risk category 1 police man is deployed for every 50 people.
"For the meeting on September 27 by TVK, nearly 500 police personnel were on duty which include Superintendent of Police, 3 Additional SPs, 4 DSPs, 7 inspectors, 58 sub-inspectors", he said.
Responding to a query, he said the organisers also should extend their cooperation to the police personnel when there was huge crowd like the one witnessed in Karur on September 27.
"As the Vijay's vehicle was 50 metres away from the speaking spot in Karur, he was instructed by a DSP ranked police officer to stop the vehicle and address the gathering from that place itself. But they did not extend their cooperation and insisted that they go the designated spot," he said.
"For the AIADMK public meeting on September 26, 137 police personnel were deployed. It was orderly crowd, well regulated and after the meeting the crowd dispersed in a smooth manner," he said to a query.
Giving some statistics of police deployment for the TVK meetings held in other places, Devasirvatham said 650 police personnel were deployed in Tiruchirappalli as it is a city with an airport. For the Ariyalur campaign, 287 police personnel were deployed, in Perambalur 480 police were posted, In Nagapattinam there was a deployment of 410 and in Tiruvarur 413 police personnel were on duty.
For Namakkal meeting on September 27, there were 279 police personnel, he said.
He also referred to an incident in Namakkal during the TVK campaign in which 34 people suffered 'heatstroke'.
"They were standing for long hours and still 4 people are under observation in the Government Hospital," he said.
District Collector M Thangavel, who was accompanying the ADGP said, the services of government doctors and nurses from Dindigul, Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Namakkal, Coimbatore, Madurai were roped in to treat those injured in the incident.
In order to serve those who seek assistance, control rooms were set up at the government hospitals immediately after the stampede, he added.
Meanwhile, power corporation TANGEDCO's Chief Engineer C Rajalakshmi who was present during the press conference, said power supply was not suspended during the TVK's Karur rally on September 27 as reported by a section of media.
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21 hours raid fetch nothing for ED, claims Karnataka Cong MLA’s son
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Congress MLA N A Haris' son Mohammed Haris Nalapad on Tuesday claimed that the 21 hours of search by the ED in his house and other locations did not fetch anything.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday raided the premises of the two sons of Haris (Mohammed Haris Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad), Aqeeb Khan, grandson of ex-Union cabinet minister K Rahman Khan and an alleged crypto hacker named Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki in a crypto currency-linked money laundering case.
More than a dozen premises in the city have been covered as part of the action executed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
"My grandfather is 89-year-old. There is not a single bad mark. My father (N A Haris) is a four-time MLA. There is not a single accusation against him. Their only intention was to target myself and my brother. As simple as that," Mohammed Nalapad, who is a former Karnataka Youth Congress president, told reporters.
According to him, the ED officials carried out raids for 21 hours.
"After 21 hours of search, they took away only two mobile phones from our house. They did not get a single paisa. The ED will testify it," the Congress leader said.
Exuding faith in the law, he said he is ready to fight the case in court.
"Me and my father have opted for politics and we are in public life. You can call me whatever you want but I have not done anything wrong," Mohammed Nalapad said.
Regarding his relationship with Sriki, he said he knew him but had no clue what he was doing.
"I have never said that either me or my brother do not know Sriki. But how will I know what he does in his house? Can his crimes be linked to us," he asked.
The money laundering case stems from some Karnataka Police FIRs and chargesheets filed in a 2017 case of hacking of national and international websites, stealing of bitcoins and sale of these 'stolen' virtual digital assets (VDA) through crypto platforms by the alleged hacker Sriki and his associates.
The Nalapad brothers and Aqeeb Khan are alleged to be the beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime generated through this alleged crypto-linked crime, the ED said.
