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Bangalore Trial of Tamil Separatists

by K.V. Subramanya, The Hindu (New Delhi)

Police for holding trial of Tamil separatists in Bangalore prison

BANGALORE: The Bangalore city police have requested the Government to ensure that the trial of Tamil separatists, who were arrested by the Fraser Town police on the charge of secession, is held at the high-security Parappana Agrahara prison.

Police sources speaking to The Hindu on Monday claimed that the Tamil separatists, who are lodged in the Parappana Agrahara prison, have close links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The sources said it was highly risky to take the accused to a court in the city from the Parappana Agrahara prison situated on the outskirts of the city.

"As the Karnataka High Court has ordered that the case against the Tamil activists has to be disposed of within six months, the accused have to be brought to the court often. Considering the antecedents of the accused and their links with the LTTE, we thought it would be safe to hold the trail at the Parappana Agrahara prison itself," the sources said.

Request

The police have written to the Government to request the High Court to facilitate the trial at the Parappana Agrahara prison. The request made by the police to the Government is: Either the judge of the Sessions Court can hold the trial at the prison or one of the two judges, who have their courts in the prison, can conduct the trial, according to the sources.

The High Court on September 15 rejected the bail petitions of two Tamil activists, Nedunchezhian and Gunaseelan alias Bangalore Guna and directed that a Sessions Court hold their trial expeditiously.

The Fraser Town police had filed charge sheet in the case that between 1996 and 2002 stating that Prof. Nedunchezian had entered into a conspiracy to disturb peace in the State, to create a separate nation and to support the LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.

He had also started the Karnataka Tamiliar Iyakkam (Karnataka Tamils' Movement), the charge sheet said.

The prosecution had told the High Court that two persons, Vijay Murthy alias Viji and Shiva Kumar alias Shiva, were arrested from near the Banaswadi railway station on November 11, 2002 and aluminium pipe bombs and hand grenades were seized from them.

It later came to light that several persons had entered into a conspiracy at the house of Prof. Nedunchezhian to wage a war for the creation of a Tamil nation, the prosecution said.

The prosecution said Prof. Nedunchezhian was one of the pioneers of the Tamilar Peravai movement for armed and political struggles of a Tamil homeland. It said some of the members of the peravai had received military training in Sri Lanka. Moreover, plans to either blast buildings or disturb peace were mainly hatched in the residence of Prof. Neduncheziyan, the prosecution claimed.