Overview
- Police arrested NTK functionary M. Karthika on Tuesday in a case registered on October 4 that grew out of a protest during Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s roadshow.
- Officers also detained Karthika’s husband Murugan Chandrakumar and several other NTK members after picking them up in Coimbatore and holding them at Peelamedu before taking them to Dharapuram.
- The October 4 case followed police refusal to allow NTK to campaign along the roadshow route, which NTK says led to an argument and a road blockade by party workers.
- NTK chief Seeman called the charges fabricated and politically motivated while DMK and AMMK leaders criticised the arrests as targeting an opposition woman from a marginalised community.
- There has been no reported court ruling yet on the charges and the arrests have heightened scrutiny of police handling of campaign permissions and allegations of political vendetta.