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STATES: TAMIL NADU
Heroin Replaces Ganja
What has raised
many eyebrows is Bhaskaran's arrest. He was a guardian of Jayalalitha's
Poes Garden residence when she was in jail, but for reasons unknown he
was asked to leave soon after her return. At the time of Sudhakaran's
arrest, Bhaskaran was in Bangalore. He returned to surrender after learning
he too was named in the complaint filed by Gopu Sridhar, a former aide
of Sudhakaran. While Bhaskaran was in custody, the police claimed he had
confessed to keeping 72 gm of heroin for Sudhakaran's use. Now he too
is in jail.
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JAYA'S TARGET
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M. KARUNANIDHI: The former chief minister
is undoubtedly Jayalalitha's enemy No. 1. The police arrested him
in the glare of TV cameras a little after midnight on June 30. He
was released three days later.
V.N. SUDHAKARAN: Jayalalitha's disowned
foster son. Has a complaint of criminal assault against him. The
police claim to have recovered a pistol and 16 gm of heroin from
his residence on June 13. Currently behind bars.
V. BHASKARAN: The chief minister's former
aide. Named in the complaint filed against Sudhakaran. The police
claim he confessed to keeping 72 gm of heroin for Sudhakaran's use.
Currently behind bars.
R. NARAYANAN: Friend of M.K. Stalin, son
of Karunanidhi. Committed suicide on July 15. Left behind a suicide
note in which he writes he feared the police may plant narcotic
substances in his house while probing a bribery case.
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BULL'S EYE: Karunanidhi tops the hate list |
The Chennai Police has a history of arresting
suspects in other cases and "finding" ganja in their possession.
But heroin as a plant is absolutely new. Following the feud between Jayalalitha
and M.G. Ramachandran's widow Janaki Ramachandran, MGR's driver and Janaki-loyalist
Muthu was detained for possessing ganja. Soon a judge of the Madras High
Court, who had made some remarks against Jayalalitha during one of the
trials, also learnt of his son-in-law being booked in a narcotics case.
As joint commissioner, Muthukaruppan was famous for his ganja hauls. Only
now the favoured drug is heroin. A majority of such complaints, as it
did in the case of Muthu, end with the charges getting dropped or disproved,
thus proving the point that the contraband is only a handy tool to keep
the accused in custody for as long as required. Says a lawyer: "NDPS
turns draconian when the police become involved in settling of personal
and political scores. Section 21 of the NDPS provides for a minimum punishment
of 10 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) and a fine of Rs 1 lakh and maximum
of 20 years RI and Rs 50 lakh fine." Recently the Supreme Court made
observations against granting bail in NDPS cases. "A long stay in
custody helps powers that be to extract what they want."
Despite the police's desperate attempts to refute
the allegations, the mass suicide has put them in the spotlight. A police
press note first released select portions of the suicide note, in which
Narayanan said his family was resorting to the extreme step since Deivasigamani
had foisted a case against him. What they did not publicise was another
portion of the note where he says he feared the police would plant narcotic
substances in his house. A copy of the suicide note is available with
India Today.
Muthukaruppan tried damage-control, casting
doubts on the veracity of the note itself-now sent for opinions to graphologists.
"There are so many loose ends. The note says they decided to commit
suicide 10 days ago. Why then did they choose this day? Why did Ramanan
take more than two hours to inform the police?" Police sources say
they are not ruling out the possibility of murder.
For Stalin, Narayanan has been more than an
associate. Stalin was so close to him that ticket-seekers for the recent
assembly elections were seen at Narayanan's doorstep. When Stalin came
to his friend's residence, emotions ran high and he started sobbing. Karunanidhi
hoped at least now the police would adopt a humane approach. Ramanan has
appealed to Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and Governor C. Rangarajan
seeking a thorough probe. Till then, Tamil Nadu will dread heroin for
reasons more than one.
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