Chennai, Mar 7: Former state secretary of the BJP's IT wing Dilip Kannan was among the former saffron party workers who joined the AIADMK on Tuesday.

Kannan and three others, including a woman functionary of the BJP who had quit the party, joined the opposition party in the presence of its interim chief K Palaniswami, an AIADMK release said.

The development comes days after the BJP's then state IT wing chief C T R Nirmal Kumar quit the party and joined the AIADMK, after blaming the saffron party's TN unit chief K Annamalai.

There was a time when it was alleged that the BJP had to prosper only if leaders from the Dravidian parties joined it. "But our fortunes have changed. Now the Dravidian parties are growing with the entry of second, third and fourth-level leaders from the BJP. Let them poach. The situation is bound to change," Annamalai said before leaving for a party event in Madurai.

 

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New Delhi, Sep 24: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the 2017 Unnao rape survivor and her family members on the Centre's plea seeking withdrawal of CRPF security cover provided to them following the court's order in 2019. Expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar is serving a life term for kidnapping and raping the minor girl in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao area in 2017.

Taking note of the sensational rape case and the threat to lives of the survivor and others, the apex court on August 1, 2019, directed that the rape survivor, her mother, other members of the family and their lawyer be provided CRPF security.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma asked that the application of the Centre to be served on the victim and her family members. The bench also observed that since there is hardly any threat perception, it would like to close the case.

The Centre's counsel said no security cover is needed according to the threat analysis of the victim and her family members.

Advocate Ruchira Goel, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, submitted that everything, including the trial, was transferred to Delhi after the incident following the apex court's order.

The bench asked Goel where the victim resides at present. She replied that the woman and her family stay in Delhi.

On May 14, the top court had asked the Centre to file a separate application seeking withdrawal of CRPF security cover provided to the survivor, her family members and their lawyers.

The Centre submitted that the security cover may be provided by either the Delhi or Uttar Pradesh police and the CRPF be permitted to withdraw.

In 2019, the top court transferred all five cases registered in connection with the Unnao rape incident from a Lucknow court to a court in Delhi with the direction to hold trial on daily basis and complete it within 45 days.

The Supreme Court also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to provide Rs 25 lakh as interim compensation to the rape survivor.

The court had added that the CBI will have to complete within seven days the investigation into the accident in which the survivor and her lawyer were critically injured and two of her aunts killed.

Her father was arrested at the behest of Sengar in a case under the Arms Act and died in custody on April 9, 2018.

Sengar has sought the quashing of the trial court's December 2019 judgment that has sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his life. His appeal is pending in the Delhi High Court.

On March 13, 2020, Sengar was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in the case of death of the woman's father in custody. He was also slapped with a fine of Rs 10 lakh. The court had awarded a 10-year jail term to Sengar's brother Atul Singh Sengar and five others in the case.