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The Madurai police have obtained arrest warrants against eight Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam volunteers in a Prevention of Terrorism Act case registered against them for making pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam remarks at a public meeting at Thirumangalam on June 29.
The magistrate of the Thirumangalam court S Venkatachalapathy, who issued the warrants on Monday night, had, however, not issued a warrant against the MDMK secretary Vaiko.
Under POTA, a cognisable offence, the police need not obtain warrant and the investigating officer could effect arrest.
However, the warrant was sought as a matter of caution, the police said.
"The government did not want to draw a flak by arresting Vaiko as in the case of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president Karunanidhi," a police officer said.
"The magistrate was hesitant to give an arrest warrant against Vaiko, so we did not press," an investigation officer said.
Meanwhile, the Erode district MDMK secretary, was arrested early on Tuesday at his residence in Erode, under POTA, for allegedly making pro-LTTE remarks recently at Thirumangalam, a senior police official said.
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