Chennai, Apr 21: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today justified the arrest of Tamil bi-weekly 'Nakheeran' editor R R Gopal under Pota and said the act had been invoked as he was in possession of arms without a licence. Possession of arms without a licence was an offence under Section 4 of Pota, she told the state assembly, while replying to points raised by the opposition members, who said the arrest endangered the freedom of the press. She said during the investigation, it was revealed that money changed hands to banned militant organisations- Tamil National Liberation Army and Tamil National Retrieval Troops and to forest brigand Veerappan, through Gopal. She said Gopal was arrested in connection with the case of a missing person, who had allegedly been killed by Veerappan as he was said to be a police informant. Rajamani, the missing person, was lured by Veerappan into the forest after Gopal informed him that he was a police informant. The same had been published in 'Nakheeran' in its issues in 1998, she said.

Earlier C Gnansekaran (Cong), J Hemachandran (CPI-M) and G Palanisamy (CPI), who raised the issue through a special mention, said the ordinary laws of the land were enough for the offences allegedly committed by Gopal. There was no need to invoke Pota to arrest a magazine's editor, which they said, was aimed at suppressing the press.

Bureau Report