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7500 taken into custody in TN, on eve of Babri Masjid demolition anniversary

About 7,500 people have so far been taken into preventive custody all over Tamil Nadu as part of the unprecedented security arrangements made by the state police on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya.

The police said full-scale surveillance was on at all public places, including airports, railway stations, bus stands, famous temples and other places of worship, highways and main thoroughfares in Madras.

Not taking any chances, the police were resorting to rigorous checking of luggage of passengers in all railway stations, including the Madras Central and Egmore terminals. On December 6 last year, 10 people were killed in bomb blasts in three trains which had left Madras the previous evening.

Checkposts at the Kerala border near Shenkottah, Theni and Walayar and those at the Karnataka border at Nilgiris and Sathyamangalam were subjected to full-scale surveillance.

Nearly 100,000 police and other security personnel, including Rapid Action Force contingents, were kept ready to meet any eventuality. Flag marches were held in Madras and Madurai today. Permission had been denied to the Tamil Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam to stage a protest rally at Madurai, following which the TMMK has threatened to organise a demonstration in front of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's residence in Madras tomorrow.

UNI

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