FIR, only to settle political scores: Stalin

[1]

DMK leader M. K. Stalin, against whom a case of criminal intimidation was registered by police, on Friday said the action by the Jayalalithaa government was only to 'settle political scores'.

Dismissing the complaint as 'baseless', Stalin, son of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, petitioned the Director General of Police, saying he has 'absolutely no connection with the case in whatsoever manner'.

The Central Crime Branch of Chennai Police on Thursday registered an FIR against Stalin, his son Udhayanidhi and four others for allegedly threatening a person to sell his property in a prime locality at a lesser price.

The case was registered following a complaint by one N. S. Kumar on November 29, alleging that one of Stalin's aides had forced him to sell his property on Chittaranjan Das Road at Teynampet area after getting the tenants to vacate it under threat.

Stalin said his son had entered into a rental agreement with the present owner of the property through his company.

"There is no nexus with the complainant, the complaint is only to tarnish my image and reputation in the eyes of the general public," Stalin, a former Deputy Chief Minister, said.

Alleging that police machinery was being 'misused and abused' by persons in power in order to settle political scores, he said, "The present case is registered in such a manner with mala fide intention."

Stalin also charged the police department with acting as a 'tool of the ruling AIADMK dispensation'. He also alleged that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa owned two 'unlawfully occupied properties' in Kodanaadu and Siruthavur, but till date, no case of land-grabbing has been registered in these cases.