Anbumani Ramadoss arrested, father granted bail

Continuing with crackdown on PMK after Tamil Nadu govt blamed it for violence at Marakkanam, police arrested former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss as his father S Ramadoss was granted bail.

Chennai: Continuing with the crackdown on PMK days after Tamil Nadu government blamed the party for last week`s violence at Marakkanam, police on Friday arrested former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss as his father and party founder Dr S Ramadoss was granted bail. However, Ramadoss could not walk out of the prison at Tiruchirappally in view of other pending cases.

The PMK founder was arrested on April 30 for trying to stage a protest demanding arrest of "true culprits" behind the violence at Marakkanam in Villupuram district, allegedly targeted against Dalits. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had blamed the party for the violence. Anbumani, PMK Youth Wing Leader, was arrested from his T Nagar residence here by Kanchipuram police in connection with a case filed last year. He was arrested under different sections including Unlawful Assembly, Activities prejudicial to Peace, Violation of Police Rules,and the offence of acting against General Public - under the Amended criminal Law. Protests were held near Kanchipuram opposing Anbumani`s arrest, which comes two days after police action against his father. In the wake of the developments, some preventive arrests were made including in northern districts which has a sizeable population of Vanniyars, the community PMK claims to represent, police said. However, no untoward incident was reported today, police added. Violence had erupted following the arrest of Ramadoss on April 30, with many government buses being torched by miscreants. PTI