Chennai: AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS), has come out against the reported claims of the state government on law and order situation, saying that there was an increase in the ganja and drug peddling in the state.
He charged that even minor children were getting hooked up to drugs like ganja. The former Chief Minister said that three recent crimes in Kancheepuram and Kundrathur areas during the previous week were linked to ganja peddling.
The AIADMK leader said that the source of this ganja had to be traced and asked as to why the state was not curbing the ganja peddling by destroying the source of the drug.
He said that Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, and his cabinet colleagues were trying to cover up the charges regarding ganja peddling and related crimes that he had raised.
The AIADMK leader lashed out against the Chief Minister and said that Stalin, who was holding the home portfolio, seems not to have any control over the police.
He cited the death of, a 26-year-old youth, Dinesh Kumar who was taken into custody by Thiru. Vi. Ka Nagar police on charges of stealing a mobile phone from a fellow bus passenger. The youth, who was let off, after his friend handed over the mobile phone, was allegedly tortured by the Thiru. Vi. Ka Nagar police, leading to his death.
The former Chief Minister said that the state government transferring the case to the CB-CID for investigating the death of Dinesh Kumar was a farce.
He also said that expensive drugs are also being traded in Tamil Nadu and the state was turning into a hub for such drugs. He further stated that the criminals who were behind this network were going scot-free while people who are taken into custody end up losing their lives.
Edaappadi K. Palaniswami also charged that while Tamil Nadu Chief Minister who holds the home portfolio and the Director General of Police, C. Sylendra Babu were announcing all was well on the law and order front, things were bleak. He recalled the death of Vignesh, a youth who was tortured to death in police custody.
–IANS