Chennai, July 1 :
Chennai, July 1:
The silent Jayalalitha tonight let Jaya TV do the talking and showing.
A day after Sun TV bombarded drawing rooms with pictures of M. Karunanidhi being dragged and shoved by the police, Jaya TV today beamed footage of Union commerce minister Murasoli Maran assaulting a policeman - identified in the voiceover as DIG Mohamed Ali - during the midnight arrests.
The clippings also feature another Union minister in custody, T.R. Baalu, pushing policemen.
Jayalalitha had last night said that the Sun TV clippings were a 'deliberate stage-managed stunt' to falsely blame the police and create a bad image of her and her government. 'Somebody's voice was dubbed and an impression sought to be created as though Karunanidhi himself was shouting,' she had said.
Today's Jaya TV clippings, telecast during the English news bulletin, show Karunanidhi in checked lungi and kurta emerging smiling from a room. Karunanidhi offers his cooperation and seeks permission to change clothes. He is allowed to do so.
The clippings also show an unidentified man suddenly pulling Karunanidhi. Later, Karunanidhi is shown being escorted to an officer's room in Vepery police station by a constable helping him by the arm.
The footage is accompanied by a statement from Tamil Nadu DGP Ravindranath saying that the police had acted in an impartial and unbiased manner and that the scuffle that broke out was provoked by Maran.
The footage shows Maran pummelling a policeman twice with his right hand.
It also shows a policeman wiping what looks like the region of his face. During the day, a police officer had claimed that one of his colleagues who executed the arrests had a black eye after the operation.
'It is surprising that no section of the intelligentsia or the press is giving the true picture,' Ravindranath says.
'This evening I have asked Chennai police commissioner Muthukaruppan to show the clippings. These will show how fairly, how impartially we have acted in this incident.'
The visuals show Baalu trying to force his way through locked iron gates, possibly those of Karunanidhi's 21 Oliver Road house. A scuffle takes place when the police try to arrest Baalu and he suddenly falls down.
'The commotion and chaos started only after Maran came into the scene,' says Ravindranath. He claims the visuals show DIG Ali speaking 'in a very polite, very decent manner to Karunanidhi.'
For a second time, Ravindranath says that 'misbehaviour started only after Murasoli Maran came into the scene.'
The clippings show Maran arriving at Karunanidhi's house in a Tata Safari with a red light flashing atop.
Jaya TV also claimed that Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi had said he was informed of the ministers' arrests within 24 hours as required by the rules.