The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the police firing that claimed 13 lives and left many injured during protests in Thoothukudi on May 22 and 23.
The protesters were demanding the closure of the Vedanta Ltd.-owned Sterlite Copper’s smelter plant.
A Division Bench of Justices C.T. Selvam and A.M. Basheer Ahamed passed the order on a batch of 13 writ petitions filed in the Madurai Bench, seeking different reliefs, including a CBI probe.
The verdict was reserved in Madurai on July 31 and delivered at the principal seat of the court.
Justifying its decision, the Bench said there were several questions over the police firing and yet the State had not answered them satisfactorily.
“Were incidents (of violence and firing) orchestrated and if so, by whom is to be looked into,” the judges added.
