File photo of the Madras High Court.
Tension prevailed after the next of kin of two of the 20 woodcutters killed in Andhra Pradesh placed their bodies on the road amid continuing protests in Tamil Nadu yesterday even as Madras High Court ordered that the remains of six of them be preserved in a mortuary.
AIADMK supremo and former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, meanwhile, broke her silence on the gunning down of the 20 labourers in an operation against red sanders smuggling, raising doubts over the genuiness of the "encounter". She urged Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister M Chandrababu Naidu to launch a fact-finding probe and initiate action based on that.
In a related development, the Supreme Court refrained from taking suo motu cognizance for ordering independent probe by CBI or a special investigation team into the controversial encounter in Chittoor district but allowed filing of a petition in this regard.
Protests against the Andhra Pradesh police operations on Tuesday continued in Arakkonam, Hosur and Chennai for the third consecutive day with tension gripping Padavedu in Tiruvannamalai district when relatives of slain Sasikumar and Murugan placed the bodies on road. Demanding justice, they sought a probe and enhanced solatium.
A scuffle had broken out between police and relatives who refused to take the bodies away for cremation.
Twelve of the woodcutters hailed from Tiruvanamalai district, seven from Dharmapuri and one from Salem.
The High Court directed preserving six bodies in a mortuary in Thiruvannamalai District Headquarters government hospital, 170 km from Chennai, until tomorrow.
The direction was in response to a petition by Muniammal of Polur of Thiruvannamalai District, wife of one of those killed, which came up for hearing before Justice M Sathyanarayanan.
Counsel for the petitioner K Balu submitted in court that apart from the bullet injuries, there were cut injuries also on the body of Sasikumar. He further contended that chemicals were also spread on the body.
The judge said he would pass orders tomorrow on the petition.
A group of advocates of Madras High Court burnt effigies of Mr Naidu and said he should also be made as one of the main accused, besides demanding a CBI probe into the incident.
A Tamil outfit ransacked a retail chain store in Chennai, the founder chairman of which is Mr Naidu. Police have detained two in connection with the incident.
Red sanders or red sandalwood is a protected species of tree grown in at least four districts of Andhra Pradesh. The trees are in short supply and fetch thousands of dollars in the international black market.