The Madras High Court on Thursday ordered all illegal hoardings in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu to be removed, The News Minute reported. The court’s order came five days after a 30-year-old engineer riding a motorcycle died allegedly after he crashed into a hoarding put up by the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
The court directive was based on a petition filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLA N Karthik, who had blamed the AIADMK’s hoarding for Ragupathy’s death. The division bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar asked the AIADMK government’s counsel for evidence of permission obtained to put up the banner.
“As per the government’s counsel, there were 243 hoardings put up for the MG Ramachandran centenary celebrations,” Karthik told The News Minute. “But once the judge came to know that they didn’t have permission, she observed that Raghupathy’s death could have indeed been a result of the illegal hoarding.”
Senior advocate P Wilson, arguing for Karthik, said that the people responsible for Ragupathy’s death should be identified and prosecuted, The Times of India reported.
On Monday, the Coimbatore Police had denied that Ragupathy died because he crashed into the hoarding. The police said a lorry coming from the wrong side of the road had killed him. The driver of the lorry was arrested on November 25, the day Raghupathy died.
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