The picture of a police man wearing yellow jersey, black tracks, standing on top of a police van and pointing his gun towards protesters has become one of the haunting images of the tragedy that unfolded in Thoothukudi district five years ago. This image summed up the reckless attitude of Tamil Nadu police on the day when the police force opened fire against unarmed civilians, killing 14 anti-Sterlite protesters on May 22, 2018. The man was identified as Raja, working as a head constable in Thoothukudi district. Raja, along with his crew in a white police van, were seen handling self-loading rifles (SLR) and opening fire by standing on top of the van outside the Thoothukudi collector office. In one of the videos that surfaced on May 22, 2018, Raja was heard commenting that at least “one person should be gunned down.”
Another police personnel who was accused of opening fire against unarmed civilians in the Aruna Jagadeesan Commission report was ace shooter Sudalaikannu. The probe found Sudulaikannu responsible for different episodes of police firing at various places in Thoothukudi district on May 22, 2018 and termed his conduct as “highly reprehensible.”
The Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission of Inquiry that probed the brutal police firing indicted several police personnel for violating police standing orders and law. The report said that "the totality of the faces and circumstances would not suggest that the police had been acting in exercise of the right of private defence. As a matter of fact it is not even the version of police." The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) indicted 17 police personnel in the hierarchy who were “jointly and severally accountable for the excesses committed in Thoothukudi.” The then Inspector General (IG) of South Zone Shailesh Kumar Yadav, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Kapil Kumar Saratkar, Superintendent of Police (SP) Mahendran and 15 others have been held responsible and action suggested against them for their "acts of commission and omission departmentally without prejudice to launching criminal action.”
Justice Aruna Jagadeesan also recorded the role of ace shooter Sudulaikannu who was responsible for different episodes of firing on May 22, 2018. “In his exuberance of enthusiasm, he would approach the guard in charge of the weapons in the Collectorate at that time of (first) shooting inside the Collectorate as also in the shooting outside the Collectorate purportedly on the instructions of IG got 10 rounds with 0.303 rifle and exhausted each one of the rounds resulting in the death of as many as four protesters besides causing gunshot injuries to a few others,” the report said.
While other policemen dispersed after the operations, Sudalaikannu was waiting for the arrival of the then Thoothukudi SP Mahendran and joined his team to launch another shooting spree in the 3rd mile and Threspuram with a self-loading rifle and 30 rounds of bullets. Explaining his role, the report said, “Sudalaikannu accompanied the SP to 3rd mile and Threspuram and on the alleged ground of quelling a violent mob here and there, opened fire exhausting 17 rounds in 3rd mile and three rounds in Threspuram which eventually led to the death of three protesters and causing gunshots wounds to several others.”
The annexure copies of the report listed the names of police personnel who handled the weapon and the specifications of the weapon and under whose orders fire was opened and details of the victims who suffered fatal injuries. The report confirmed that at least four anti-Sterlite protesters Manirajan, Shanmugam, Antony Selvaraj, Jansi Rani were killed by Sudulaikannu. The report also pointed out that Sudulaikannu may have been involved in opening fire and killing three other unarmed protesters Ranjith Kumar, Snowlin and Glaston.
The Commission recommended strong legal proceedings including disciplinary action against ace shooter Sudalaikannu for his acts of omission and commission, stating, “The conduct of Sudalaikannu is highly reprehensible for having acted in a highhanded manner without having regard or respect for the procedures established by law.”
Similarly, the Commission of Inquiry also noted the role played by head constable Raja, who was in charge of cooking food for the police on that day. According to the report, Raja was instructed to bring extra weapons to the Collectorate. In a television interview, Raja had said that a wireless message was sent to his team asking them to bring extra weapons. The report said, “Raja along with food packets brought weapons. He was not in a police uniform. He arrived at the Collectorate and on the instructions of Inspector Hariharan, got on the top of the Eicher Vehicle and opened fire with an SLR.”
The Commission called the act of Raja “a flagrant violation of the provision of the Police Standing Order 704 which mandates that the police personnel in mob operations are to be only in police uniform. Though it is claimed that Raja opened only one round of fire still the visuals available with the Commission prove that he had fired two rounds which he admitted during the probe.” The Commission recommended action against head constable Raja for opening two rounds of fire with SLR without being in uniform.
The probe also found that the armoury register was also tampered with by making alterations. The armoury register was tampered to show that only 10 rounds of ammunition were borrowed, when in reality 20 rounds of ammunition were borrowed. Other entries to the register were also made in an attempt to cover up the actual amount of ammunition that was taken. Both Sudalaikannu and Raja have been accused of ‘meddling’ with the armoury register where entries regarding the use of bullets were either rewritten or erased.
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