CHENNAI, January 23: Four members of the "Tamil Nadu Retrieval Troop," allegedly working for secession of Tamil Nadu from India, were today convicted by a designated court here.Special judge Arumugapperumal Adityan delivered the judgement at the high security prison in suburban Poonamalee in a case relating to formation of the armed gang reportedly at the behest of the LTTE. Fifteen others were acquitted.
Prosecution submitted that a number of youth from the State were actively assisted by the LTTE intelligence chief Pottu Amman, the absconding first accused, in "clandestinely going to Sri Lanka, being trained in handling of automatic fire arms of different makes and explosives and being given an assortment of arms, ammunitions, explosives, wireless transmission equipment, cash and gold".
Those convicted in the case today were Ravichandran, Suseendran (both accused in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case), Paulraj and Veerakumar.
Two accused, now dead, were acquitted, while 11 others are still
absconding.
The 32 persons had been charged with committing offences under various sections of the TADA act, Explosive Substances Act, Indian Wireless Telegraph Act and Passport Act besides a number of other statutes.
They were accused of conspiring to form the "troop" in order to "overawe" the government established by law and to achieve secession of Tamil Nadu from the Indian Union: to do so by violent and terrorist means including annihilation of public servants and persons upholding the sovereignty and integrity of India.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
