T.N. BJP leaders K. Annamalai, Tamilisai Soundarajan, arrested
Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai was arrested by Chennai police on Monday morning, hours before he was set to lead a demonstration against alleged financial irregularities in the state-run liquor retailer, Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC).
Annamalai, who had planned to hold a protest outside the TASMAC headquarters Chennai’s Egmore, was detained near his residence in Akkarai as he attempted to leave for the venue.
Several other senior BJP leaders, including former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Mahila Morcha chief and Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, and BJP MLA Saraswathi, were also taken into custody at different locations across the city.
The protest was organised in the wake of a sweeping probe by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), which has uncovered what it describes as a sprawling corruption network within TASMAC, implicating state officials, liquor distilleries, and bottling companies in an alleged Rs 1,000-crore financial fraud.
On Monday morning, as BJP workers gathered in different parts of Chennai, police deployed in large numbers to thwart the protest. Soundararajan, also a former BJP state chief, was intercepted at her home in Saligramam, where authorities had cordoned off the premises in the morning.
Party members attempting to march from Rajarathinam Stadium toward the TASMAC headquarters were detained en masse.