Karunanidhi passes away: Madras High Court allows burial of DMK patriarch on Marina beach

Chennai: The Madras High Court on allowed the burial of DMK chief M Karunanidhi on the Marina Beach. A division bench of the court comprising Acting Chief Justice H G Ramesh and S S Sundar passed the order on a petition filed by the DMK at a special hearing.

Tamil Nadu’s main opposition party had moved the court last night after the AIADMK government rejected its request for allowing the burial of Karunanidhi on the famed Marina sands alongside his mentor and former chief minister CN Annadurai.

Earlier, soon after the court resumed the hearing on the DMK’s plea, which was adjourned in the wee hours on Wednesday morning, all five petitions challenging former chief minister late Jayalalithaa’s burial at the Marina on different grounds were dismissed as withdrawn.

These petitions had been cited by the government for denying permission to bury the DMK stalwart on the beach, which also has memorials to former chief ministers MG Ramachandran and his protegee Jayalalithaa.

Defending its decision the state government said the previous DMK government headed by Karunanidhi had turned down a plea for burying late chief minister MG Ramachandran’s wife Janaki on ground she was not a sitting CM.