The Madras High Court has expressed dissatisfaction with the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) handling of the 2018 Tuticorin police firing case, where 13 anti-Sterlite protestors were killed.
The court criticized the investigation for being unfair and suggested that the police firing appeared to be a predetermined act influenced by an industrialist.
A division bench of Justices S S Sundar and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy made these observations while hearing a petition from social activist Henri Tiphagne, who sought to reopen the probe that had been closed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Additionally, the bench directed the state Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption to investigate the assets of all officers, including IPS and IAS officers, who were posted in the southern district at the time of the incident.
The case dates back to May 2018, when police fired on protestors in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin district after the anti-Sterlite agitation turned violent. The protestors were demanding the closure of a copper smelter unit due to pollution concerns.
