Even as protests are growing over the killing of 20 alleged smugglers in Chittoor last week, Andhra Pradesh Police has arrested 63 Tamil smugglers allegedly belonging to the same group.
The 63 woodcutters are natives of neighboring Tamil Nadu and were arrested in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh while smuggling Red Sanders. Forty logs of red sanders wood worth Rs 2 crore has been seized from their possession.
Meanwhile, a petrol bomb was hurled at a Heritage Fresh Super Market in Chennai in retaliation to the Andhra encounter. No damages have been reported in the incident. The police have detained four people from a fringe pro-Tamil group in connection with the attack. The investigation into the attack is currently underway.
The Andhra Police also faced tough questions from the Hyderabad High Court over why a case of murder was not filed in the killings.. The Madras High Court refused to order a second postmortem on the bodies of six victims from Thiruvannamalai district which have been asked to be preserved till April 17.
Political sparring has also continued on either side of the border with parties in Tamil Nadu demanding an inquiry and holding protests while Andhra Pradesh maintained that the state police operation was one of “smugglers versus law” and asked parties not to act under political compulsions.
