Chennai, June 11: A designated Pota court today extended the judicial remand of Tamil Nationalist Movement (TNM) leader P Nedumaran and four others to June 23. The Tamil Nadu Police has charged them under Pota for allegedly organising a meeting here and speaking in support of the outlawed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on April 13, 2002. They were arrested on August 1 last.
Earlier, commencing arguments on discharge petitions filed by two of the accused Dr Thayappan and S Ahmed, their counsel Chandrasekhar contended that the former's arrest was not justified as there was no direct or circumstantial evidence to show that he had spoken in support of the LTTE. Citing Supreme Court judgments, the advocate argued that his client had only introduced the speakers at the meeting and, according to him, it did not constitute a crime under the anti-terrorist law.
Referring to Ahmed, the lawyer contended that he had merely organised it but did not attend the function as he had to appear in a court in connection with another case. The public prosecutor Jayakumar argued that the police had material objects to prove that Thayappan had links with TNM general secretary Subba Veerapandian, who was also arraigned in the case and supported the LTTE. Bureau Report