TN BJP demands judicial probe into murder of party secretary

Salem/Chennai: The Tamil Nadu BJP unit on Saturday demanded that the state government order a judicial probe into the murder of its General Secretary and gave a call for statewide bandh on 22 July even as special police teams were formed to track down the assailants. A four-member unidentified gang hacked state unit BJP General Secretary V Ramesh (52) while he was returning home after visiting the party office last night in Salem, an incident that triggered sporadic incidents of stone pelting.  As a precautionary measure, authorities ordered closure of schools in Salem today. “We want the guilty to be brought to book. We want a detailed probe into the incident by a retired judge of the Madras High Court,” BJP state President Pon Radhakrishnan told PTI. “We want a detailed probe so that such incidents don’t happen in the future,” he said. Radhakrishnan accused the state government of not providing security to his party leaders and claimed in the last one year, three state-level leaders– Arun Reddy , P Murugan and Velliyan – were murdered and the culprits were still at large. He alleged that even police had not taken action on their pleas to provide protection to partymen. Party’s national leaders condemned the incident, with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, calling for action against the guilty. PTI