New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday registered a case against the Tamil Nadu Police and Revenue Department officials over death of 13 protestors in police firing during anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi in May this year.
The agency said it has prima facie found substance in the charges against unnamed officials of the police and the revenue department and has booked them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The sections included are those relating to public servants disobeying law with intent to cause injury, public servants framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury and punishment for robbery and dacoity. The charges levelled carry a maximum punishment of jail term for 10 years.
The probe was transferred to the CBI in August this year by the Madras High Court.
In May this year, protests calling for the closure of Vedanta’s Sterlite factory had turned violent and 13 people were killed in police action.
Sterlite's factory had first made headlines in March 2013 when a gas leak led to the death of one person and injuries to several others, after which then chief minister J Jayalalithaa had ordered its closure.
The Tamil Nadu government had, on May 28, ordered the state pollution control board to seal and "permanently" close the mining group's copper plant following violent protests over pollution concerns.
The company had then appealed to the NGT, which had overturned the government order. The state had then moved the Supreme Court against it.
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