Chennai: DMK MP RS Bharathi was arrested on Saturday morning by the Chennai police on charges of derogatory remarks against judges from the Scheduled Caste. The case pertains to the remarks he made during an internal party meeting held in February.
In that meeting, he had recalled how a particular judge from the Dalit community rose to the higher judiciary during the rule of former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and that Dalits coming to such prominent postings was an “alms made by the Dravidian movement”.
Bharathi was arrested from his house in Alandur early on May 23 and produced before the Egmore Metropolitan Magistrate. The case was initially registered by the Teynampet police but later transferred to the CCB.
The Teynampet police registered an FIR against him on March 12, under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act based on a complaint from Kalyanasundaram, president, Adi Tamizhar Makkal Katchi.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday morning, Bharathi blamed a ‘particular group on social media’ for the campaign against him and alleged that it was ‘taken out of context.’
“Today early morning they came to arrest me. The reason for this sudden arrest is that only yesterday (Friday) evening I lodged a complaint against (Deputy Chief Minister) OPS’s (O Panneerselvam) corruption. Even now we are preparing another complaint about having bought bleaching powder for disinfection activities in Coimbatore for about Rs 200 crore. Somehow they got this information through intelligence (officials) and have arrested me,” he said.
