Salem: Tamil actor Mansoor Ali Khan was taken into custody by the Salem police in the early hours of Sunday from his Choolaimedu residence in Chennai and taken with heavy police escort to Salem, following his controversial and 'violence inducing' remarks against the proposed Salem-Chennai eight-way expressway ‘green corridor’ project at an estimated cost of Rs 10,000 crore.
Mansoor Ali Khan, a functionary of the Seeman-led Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK), had a few days back made allegedly provocative remarks against the project at Theevattipatti area in Salem, prompting today's police action.
He allegedly threatened to “kill at least eight people” should the project go through and made some more controversial remarks on Sunday as he met the media at Aathur en route to Salem where the police had halted for a while to provide him lunch.
Even as local farmers have been stoutly opposing the expressway, Chief Minister, Edappadi K Palaniswami stoutly defended the ‘hard-won’ road project for Tamil Nadu, which he claimed involved acquiring only 41 acres of forest land. On reaching Salem, Khan was taken to Theevattipatti police station where he signed the register. He was then taken to Omalur government hospital for medical check-up and then remanded to judicial custody in Salem central prison.
Asked about Mansoor Ali Khan’s arrest, State Fisheries minister, Mr D Jayakumar said in Chennai, “jail is the right place for those who brazenly incite violence.”
