Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA

RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE

Research Response Number: IND34864 Country: Date: 7 May 2009

Keywords: India – – MDMK – DMK

This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein.

Questions 1. Is there any information available about the death of Mr Elumalai Naicker, Secretary of the MDMK party for , and who may have been responsible for his death? 2. Is there any information available on a disturbance at an MDMK rally at , Chennai, in the days prior to the killing of Mr Elumalai Naicker?

Background note on source availability Very little news was published electronically in India prior to the late 1990s. Even services like the Factiva subscription news database hold very few Indian press articles from the period before the mid 1990s. For this reason, detailed information on Indian press coverage of events which have taken place beyond the recent decade can be very difficult to locate.

RESPONSE

1. Is there any information available about the death of Mr Elumalai Naicker, Secretary of the MDMK party for Chennai, and who may have been responsible for his death?

A number of reports were located which referred to the killing of an Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) leader, Elumalai Naicker, in the suburb of in Madras (as Chennai was then known); according to one report the “incident had occurred a few days after a rally taken out by the party”. While no reports could be located from the time of the killing itself several subsequent Hindu reports place the event on 18 April 1994. Two Hindu reports were located which reported on subsequent arrests and court proceedings. According to these reports police alleged that the killing was the work of a nexus between certain Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) members and a criminal gang and that the matter was also tied to a “fight for supremacy between two gangs which were attempting to control the truck operations in the harbour”. It would appear that 19 persons were subsequently arrested. In July 1999 it was reported that “sitting DMK MLA, Mr. R. Mathivanan and three others [had been discharged] from the sensational ‘Elumalai Naicker murder case’” by “Mr. S.S.P. Darwesh, I Addl. Sessions Judge”. No further reports on court proceedings relating to the murder could be located and it is unclear how the case progressed from here. The maintains a searchable judgments database and this was interrogated for cases mentioning the Elumalai Naicker murder but without success (for the subsequent court proceedings, see: ‘DMK MLA discharged in murder case’ 1999, , 30 July – Attachment 1; for police claims about the role of criminal gangs in the killing, see: Shivakumar, S. 2001, ‘Political murders continue’, The Hindu, 7 April http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/04/07/stories/04074010.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 2; the Madras High Court judgments database is available at: ).

It may be of interest that, in September 2001, The Hindu reported on the killing of a number of alleged organised crime figures in Chennai relating that “most gangs are now lying low with police stepping up action against them”. Subsequent reporting in 2005 also suggests that police were continuing to constrain the activities of such criminal gangs in Chennai (Shivakuma, S. 2001, ‘Social, economic factors turned them gangsters’, The Hindu, 20 September http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2001/09/20/stories/0420401y.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 3; Ram, A. 2005, ‘TN mercenaries fight Mumbai’s gang wars’, DNA News, 9 September http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1485 – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 8).

News reports referring to the killing of Elumalai Naicker

According to a Hindu report of July 1999: “Elumalai Naicker, who was a key aide of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary, Mr.Vaiko, was brutally murdered by a gang near his Royapuram house on April 18, 1994”. The report provides an overview of the ensuing police actions and court proceeding which had followed the murder at that time, noting that a “sitting DMK MLA, Mr. R. Mathivanan and three others [had been discharged] from the sensational ‘Elumalai Naicker murder case’” by “Mr. S.S.P. Darwesh, I Addl. Sessions Judge”. Details follow:

Mr. S.S.P. Darwesh, I Addl. Sessions Judge, allowed the discharge petition filed by the four accused, who contended that they had nothing to do with the alleged offence.

Elumalai Naicker, who was a key aide of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary, Mr.Vaiko, was brutally murdered by a gang near his Royapuram house on April 18, 1994. The incident had occurred a few days after a rally taken out by the party.

The Royapuram police registered a case against five persons including Messrs Mathivanan, Radhakrishnan, S.Sekar and M. Dass, for offences punishable under Sec.147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 302 (murder) of IPC, read with Sec.109 (abetment).

They were arrested the next day and remanded to judicial custody. After completion of investigation, police filed a final chargesheet before the XVI Metropolitan Magistrate, George Town, for offences under Sec. 120 B (criminal conspiracy), read with Sec. 302 (murder), read with Sec. 109(abetment), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 150 (hiring persons to join unlawful assembly).of IPC on June 27, 1994. A reinvestigation was ordered and an amended chargesheet was filed in the same court deleting the names of the four (petitioners) as they were not involved in the occurrence.

Though the names of the four persons were deleted in the amended chargesheet, the Magistrate committed them also to be tried for the offences (along with 15 other accused persons in the murder case). In the discharge petitions filed before the Sessions Court, Mr.Mathivanan, Sekar, Das and Radhakrishnan contended that they were innocent and they had nothing to do with the offence and they were unnecessarily dragged to the court which caused irreparably loss and hardship to them. The police stated that suitable orders might be passed on the amended chargesheet filed under Sec.173 of Cr.P.C.

The Judge said it was unfortunate that the Magistrate had not applied his mind “while committing this case to this court” and he had included the petitioners also in the case. Thus the petitioners were no doubt put to inconvenience and great hardship. They were entitled to be discharged under Sec.227 of Cr.P.C., the Judge said allowing the petitions.

Further inquiry in the case against the other 15 accused was posted for August 12 (‘DMK MLA discharged in murder case’ 1999, The Hindu, 30 July – Attachment 1).

In April 2001 a report in The Hindu referred to “[t]he murder of Elumalai Naicker, a front ranking leader of the MDMK, in April 1994, [as] one of the most sensational political murders reported in the city” of Chennai. The report lists details of this attack, along with attacks on other figures (two of which are also MDMK functionaries), to illustrate the claim that: “Settling political scores through cold-blooded murders is nothing new in Tamil Nadu politics”. The report also claims that, “[t]hanks to their ‘pervasive influence’, the political hirelings manage to escape from the clutches of law”; reporting that: “The conviction rate for those arrested in connection with these cases is abysmally low”. Pertinent extracts follow and the details surrounding the death of Elumalai Naicker are set in bold.

Settling political scores through cold-blooded murders is nothing new in Tamil Nadu politics. And, the murder of Ms.Menaka is only another grim reminder of the administration’s failure to check the violence that has come to grip politics.

Police records reveal that during the past few months at least five persons owing allegiance to political parties have been murdered in district alone and in the last three years there have been 12 political murders in the district.

…One of the main reasons for these murders is that politicians do not stop with verbal clash any more. Thanks to their “pervasive influence” , the political hirelings manage to escape from the clutches of law. The conviction rate for those arrested in connection with these cases is abysmally low.

Even the two sensational political murder cases of the last decade – the killing of Elumalai Naicker and Siva, both MDMK functionaries of – are pending trial.

The murder of Elumalai Naicker, a front ranking leader of the MDMK, in April 1994, was one of the most sensational political murders reported in the city. Elumalai was a powerful political functionary and was given police security.

Yet, he was attacked by an armed gang when he was talking to a friend in Royapuram. The incident was also a fallout of the fight for supremacy between two gangs which were attempting to control the truck operations in the harbour, police said. Three years later, another MDMK functionary and harbour contractor, G. V. Siva, was hacked to death by a 20-member gang at Madha Koil Street in North Chennai in the early hours of January 22, in 1997. On the fateful day, he was trapped when a flower bedecked car was parked on the road through which he travelled everyday.

When Siva and his associate stepped out of the vehicle unsuspectingly to verify about the car, the gang hiding in the adjacent bylanes rushed and attacked him.

The delay in the judicial process and the legal procedures is also cited as one of the main reasons for criminals getting emboldened. Shoddy investigation by police is another reason (Shivakumar, S. 2001, ‘Political murders continue’, The Hindu, 7 April http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/04/07/stories/04074010.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 2).

On 19 September 2001 The Hindu reported on the progress of a police crackdown on “mercenary gangs” of the kind “engaged for contract killing and involved in cases of kidnapping for ransom and extortion” such as in the “killing Elumalai of Royapuram”. According to this September 2001 report: “most gangs are now lying low with police stepping up action against them”. The report also relates that “a revealing study of the gang networks had at that time been completed by “Mr. C. K. Gandhirajan, [Deputy Inspector- General], Railways, who was recently awarded a doctorate in Criminology for his work”.

The detention of two alleged gang leaders of north Chennai has created a vacuum in the underworld, and a young gangster hailing from Arumuganeri in Tuticorin, who settled in Chennai three years ago, is now slowly gaining supremacy.

However, most gangs are now lying low with police stepping up action against them. A couple of months ago two gang leaders, along with their men, met in an undisclosed spot in in cinematic style to sort out territorial problems and sink differences as inter-gang feuds would expose them and attract police attention.

Unlike as in Mumbai where underworld dons have international connections and the tentacles of gangs of neighbouring districts stretch into the business capital, here in Chennai, it is mostly dominated by local thugs.

A study on 59 criminal gangs in the city, which had been active during the past five years, has revealed some interesting facts on the pattern, style and operation adopted by the underworld. Among these gangs, the most prominent were 19 mercenary gangs which consisted of about 120 members. Most of these are now defunct with several members having been killed in attacks by rival gangs or in police encounters. Others have been detained by the police.

These mercenary gangs were mainly engaged for contract killing and involved in cases of kidnapping for ransom and extortion. They were hired for killing Elumalai of Royapuram, Siva of Royapuram and also Viji in the court complex.

The recruitment ground for these gangs was the Chennai Central Prison and one of the main requisites was that the incumbent should be involved in at least one grave crime. Relatives of victims formed the core group as they would be keen on revenge.

Several interesting facts on organised crime which prevailed in the city have come to light in the study by Mr. C. K. Gandhirajan, DIG, Railways, who was recently awarded a doctorate in Criminology for his work `Organised Crime – A study of criminal gangs in Chennai’ by the . The study has classified crime into different categories including mercenaries, theft, prostitution, illicit liquor, drug trafficking and cheating by financial institutions.

It has revealed that several youth took to crime because of poor social and economic conditions. They gradually grew as hardcore criminals and by the age of about 26 years turned gang leaders. The growth was swift as most members were killed by rival gangs. As many as 24 persons were killed in an inter-gang feud in north Chennai. Most others got arrested and detained. Criminals who manage to survive give up their underworld life around 40 years.

As per the study, mercenary gangs took good care of their members and ensured that they were used only for ``specialised operations.’’ While a senior member will lead an operation, they also got expert advice before any major crime. A north Chennai gangster, who has a prefix `sketch’ attached to his name, is known for giving maps for any operation.

While gangs involved in narcotics had international links, mercenary gangs and those involved in thefts have inter-State links. The study reveals that most gangs had a network and each had a strict code of law. North Chennai was a breeding ground for criminals with most of them coming from , , and .

Among the suggestions mooted by the DIG in his thesis are the formation of a separate wing to deal with organised crime gangs and framing of a separate Act on the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Ordinance 1999 (Shivakuma, S. 2001, ‘Social, economic factors turned them gangsters’, The Hindu, 20 September http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2001/09/20/stories/0420401y.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 3).

On 19 April 2002 The Hindu reported on statements made by “MDMK general secretary, Vaiko…at a public meeting at Royapuram, to mark the eighth death anniversary of the north secretary, Elumalai”. The statements made at this time concerned the MDMK’s ongoing support for the proscribed Liberation Tigers of Tamil (LTTE) and the possibility that Vaiko might be charged under the articles of India’s 2002 Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). Subsequent reports relate that Vaiko and eight other MDMK members were charged under POTA in July 2003 and were cleared by the Central POTA Review Committee in July 2004. Details from the April 2002 report follow:

The MDMK general secretary, Vaiko, said today that he was not afraid of the Tamil Nadu Government’s threat to use POTA, and was ready to face it anytime.

If this was the gift that the Government chose to give him for standing up for the right of the millions of Sri Lankan Tamils, he would welcome it.

Accusing the Chief Minister was playing into the hands of the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, he said, instead of commending the LTTE chief, V.Prabakaran, for entering into a peace accord, she passed a resolution seeking his extradition.

The MDMK chief, who was addressing cadre at a public meeting at Royapuram, to mark the eighth death anniversary of the north Chennai district secretary, Elumalai, said the DMK had brought shame upon itself by abstaining from voting on the resolution. This was a black mark in the history of the , he said (‘Ready to face POTA threat: Vaiko’ 2002, The Hindu, 20 April http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/04/20/stories/2002042001571300.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 4; for further information on the LTTE controversy and the subsequent POTA charges, see: ‘Centre urged to extradite Prabakaran’ 2002, The Hindu, 20 April http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/04/20/stories/2002042001561300.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 5; Subramanian, K. 2003, ‘Charges framed against Vaiko, eight others’, The Hindu, 26 July http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/07/26/stories/2003072606060400.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 6; Venkatesan, J. 2004, ‘Charges against eight MDMK men baseless’, The Hindu, 10 April http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/04/10/stories/2004041006220400.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 7).

Further information – organised crime in Chennai

It would appear that police continued to pursue an aggressive campaign against organised crime in Chennai following 2001. In September 2005 DNA News reported that police in Chennai had shot a number of alleged criminal figures (in so called “encounters”) “effectively stifling Chennai’s organised crime network, which once appeared to be shaping into an underworld’. The crackdown was reportedly such that: “Intelligence sources told DNA that ‘the changed atmosphere in Tamil Nadu has forced jobless criminals to seek assignments in Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh’”. Details follow:

When Chennai police shot dead Manikandan (30), a history-sheeter charged with 20 murders on August 29, it marked the ninth “police encounter” in four years.

The previous eight happened during 2002-03, when former anti-Veerappan Special Task Force chief K. Vijaykumar was the Chennai police commissioner, effectively stifling Chennai’s organised crime network, which once appeared to be shaping into an underworld.

If that has made the Chennai crime graph plummet, the flip side shows an alarming rise of another kind: A large number of criminals from Tamil Nadu are going to Mumbai as mercenaries. Intelligence sources told DNA that “the changed atmosphere in Tamil Nadu has forced jobless criminals to seek assignments in Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh’. The state police, however, are yet to officially endorse this.

“Criminal gangs in Tamil Nadu have been in touch with their counterparts in Mumbai and northern states for a long time, and this has led to exchange of human resources. This trend has gone up in the last three years,” says a source.

“We have information that there are even a couple of well-connected agents who sent youngsters from Tirunelveli, Coimbatore and Madurai to cities like Mumbai for specific operations” (Ram, A. 2005, ‘TN mercenaries fight Mumbai’s gang wars’, DNA News, 9 September http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1485 – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 8).

Should it be of interest C.K. Gandhirajan’s study of organised crime in Chennai is available on the Google Books website. It would not appear that the book provides any information about the Elumalai Naicker killing though there is extensive sociological information on Chennai’s “mercenary gangs” over pages 45 to 60, including a map of areas of operation in Chennai on page 59. In October 2005 it was reported that C.K. Gandhirajan had been promoted from “DIG, Railways, Chennai”, to the position of “Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Operations” (Gandhirajan, C.K. 2004, Organised Crime, APH Publishing http://books.google.com/books?id=ohyhsmWmelAC&pg=PP1&dq=Organized+crime+By+C .+K.+Gandhirajan – Accessed 7 May 2009; ‘Gandhirajan new IGP’ 2005, The Hindu, 23 October http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/23/stories/2005102313410800.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 9).

2. Is there any information available on a disturbance at an MDMK rally at Marina Beach, Chennai, in the days prior to the killing of Mr Elumalai Naicker?

No information could be located on an MDMK event at Marina Beach which was disturbed by DMK supporters. Searches were conducted online and within the Factiva subscription news database for reports of a 1994 MDMK event at Marina Beach in Madras (as Chennai was then known) but no such reports could be located. Searches were also conducted for reports of a clash between MDMK and DMK supporters in the general area of Madras in 1994 but without success.

Marina Beach would appear to be regularly employed by the MDMK, the DMK and other parties in Chennai, as a place for political campaigning (Ramakrishnan, V. 1998, ‘The campaign phase’, Frontline, 21 February/6 March, vol.15: no.4 http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1504/15040300.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 10; Raman, P.S. 2006, ‘2006: Year of DMK & Statue Politics’, Boloji.com website, source: Indo Asian News Service, 31 December http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0162.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 11; Vaasanthi 1998, ‘Amma’s Isolation’, India Today, 28 September http://www.india- today.com/itoday/28091998/tamil.html – Accessed 7 May 2009 – Attachment 12).

List of Sources Consulted

Internet Sources:

Google search engine http://www.google.com

List of Attachments

1. ‘DMK MLA discharged in murder case’ 1999, The Hindu, 30 July. (FACTIVA)

2. Shivakumar, S. 2001, ‘Political murders continue’, The Hindu, 7 April http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/04/07/stories/04074010.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009. (\\NTSSYD\REFER\Research\INTERNET\SOU-ASIA\ind34863.we2.doc)

3. Shivakuma, S. 2001, ‘Social, economic factors turned them gangsters’, The Hindu, 20 September http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2001/09/20/stories/0420401y.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009. (\\NTSSYD\REFER\Research\INTERNET\SOU- ASIA\ind34864.we3.doc)

4. ‘Ready to face POTA threat: Vaiko’ 2002, The Hindu, 20 April http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/04/20/stories/2002042001571300.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009. (\\NTSSYD\REFER\Research\INTERNET\SOU- ASIA\ind34864.we4.doc)

5. ‘Centre urged to extradite Prabakaran’ 2002, The Hindu, 20 April http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/04/20/stories/2002042001561300.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009. (\\NTSSYD\REFER\Research\INTERNET\SOU- ASIA\ind34864.we5.doc)

6. Subramanian, K. 2003, ‘Charges framed against Vaiko, eight others’, The Hindu, 26 July http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/07/26/stories/2003072606060400.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009. (\\NTSSYD\REFER\Research\INTERNET\SOU- ASIA\ind34864.we6.doc)

7. Venkatesan, J. 2004, ‘Charges against eight MDMK men baseless’, The Hindu, 10 April http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/04/10/stories/2004041006220400.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009. (\\NTSSYD\REFER\Research\INTERNET\SOU- ASIA\ind34864.we7.doc)

8. Ram, A. 2005, ‘TN mercenaries fight Mumbai’s gang wars’, DNA News, 9 September http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1485 – Accessed 7 May 2009. (\\NTSSYD\REFER\Research\INTERNET\SOU-ASIA\ind34864.we8.doc)

9. ‘Gandhirajan new IGP’ 2005, The Hindu, 23 October http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/23/stories/2005102313410800.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009. (\\NTSSYD\REFER\Research\INTERNET\SOU- ASIA\ind34864.we9.doc)

10. Ramakrishnan, V. 1998, ‘The campaign phase’, Frontline, 21 February/6 March, vol.15: no.4 http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1504/15040300.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009. (\\NTSSYD\REFER\Research\INTERNET\SOU- ASIA\ind34864.w10.doc)

11. Raman, P.S. 2006, ‘2006: Year of DMK & Statue Politics’, Boloji.com website, source: Indo Asian News Service, 31 December http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0162.htm – Accessed 7 May 2009. (\\NTSSYD\REFER\Research\INTERNET\SOU-ASIA\ind34864.w11.doc)

12. Vaasanthi 1998, ‘Amma’s Isolation’, India Today, 28 September http://www.india- today.com/itoday/28091998/tamil.html – Accessed 7 May 2009. (\\NTSSYD\REFER\Research\INTERNET\SOU-ASIA\ind34864.w12.doc)