Lawyer held for 'engineering' anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi

S Vanchinathan, an advocate at the Madras High Court's Madurai Bench and counsel for anti-Sterlite protestors, was arrested at Chennai airport on Wednesday night on charges of engineering protests in Thoothukudi on May 22 where 13 people were killed in the police firing.

The arrest took place two days after the Madurai bench dismissed an advance bail petition filed by him and another lawyer Hari Raghavan.

Vanchinathan was arrested by the Thoothukudi police at Chennai airport when he returned from Delhi. He was the legal advisor of the Struggle Committee Against the Sterlite and the state coordinator of the People's Right Protection Centre (PRPC) while Hari Raghavan was the Thoothukudi district secretary of the centre. Both of them had denied the police charge that they had incited violence.

The police had been arresting the members of the PRPC and Makkal Adhigaram, a hardline Left group, for allegedly instigating violence during the May 22 anti-Sterlite protests.