'200 days, 595 murders in Tamil Nadu,' alleges Palaniswami; slams DMK govt

Chennai, Jul 19 (PTI) AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday alleged that 595 murders have taken place in Tamil Nadu within 200 days, and condemned the DMK government over the high incidence of crime.

The leader of opposition said that while murders do take place sporadically over personal reasons -- no matter which party is in power -- these figures are unusual, as several persons "who have taken up murder as their profession" have been "roaming around the state and unleashing violence" during the DMK reign.

Also, it is apparent that the "police struggle to find the culprits" in several murders, the AIADMK chief alleged in a statement.

Irrespective of party affiliation, several people have been murdered in the state, he said, listing out the murders of Congress party's Tirunelveli district leader Jayakumar, AIADMK's Salem functionary Shanmugam and Naam Tamilar Katch's Madurai office-bearer Balasubramanian.

This year, in about 200 days, 595 murders have been committed in the state, he claimed. Citing media reports, he listed the killings month-wise for the period starting from January 1 and ending on July 17.

The former chief minister demanded that the DMK government take steps on a war footing to protect the people of the state from crime.

Palaniswami alleged that barring some instances, the real culprits have not been caught in the rest of the cases.

While some persons "voluntarily surrendered" in case of BSP leader K Armstrong's murder, it is "strange" that the Chennai police killed one of them in an encounter.

At least 11 persons were arrested in the case and one of them, Thiruvengadam, was shot dead by police. PTI VGN ANE