On 22nd April, Shrimushnam police filed a case against Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president K Annamalai claiming he posted misleading information on social media about the post-poll death of a woman in village Pakkirimaniyam of district Cuddalore. A case was filed against Annamalai under Sections 153, 504 and 505 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
After the reports by local media, Annamalai posted on X that the 45-year-old woman was allegedly beaten to death by DMK goons for voting for the BJP. Tamil Nadu police, however, refuted the claims. The Tamil Nadu police claimed that the woman in question was beaten to death over a family feud and personal enmity, not because she voted BJP. Several other social media users were also booked in a separate case for sharing similar information on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
The refutation by the Tamil Nadu police was used on social media by many to discredit claims of poll violence leading to the murder of Gomathi.
After the FIR was filed against K Annamalai, he took to Twitter to debunk the claims of the police.
Taking to X (Twitter), Annamalai posted a video where the husband of the deceased woman was giving his testimony, rubbishing claims of the Tamil Nadu police about previous enmity leading to the lynching of his wife. He confirms that there was no previous enmity and Gomathi was beaten to death because she voted for BJP and not DMK.
In the social media post, K Annamalai said, “I understand that the Fascist DMK Govt has filed an FIR on my name for exposing the truth about Smt Gomathi’s murder by DMK Goons.
Listen to Smt. Gomathi’s husband & her relatives confirmed that it wasn’t some previous enmity, and the real reason is that she voted for the BJP, which led to her being beaten up by DMK Goons.
Fascist DMK cannot silence our voices by filing frivolous cases such as these, as many cases, including the ones filed by TN CM Thiru MK Stalin, have been filed against us for being the voice of the people & for exposing the truth.
Thiru MK Stalin, the day of your ouster is not far. File as many cases as you want; we won’t compromise & budge!“
In the video, a person was seen asking the husband why the police claim the incident happened as there was a previous enmity and not because she voted for the Lotus symbol. Her husband said, “No, no. Not at all. These statements (of the police) have different motives.” The man asked, “So the fight erupted because she voted for the Lotus symbol?” Someone sitting there said, “Yes, that is the reason.” Another man in the video said, “The opposition knew the vote would go for the Lotus. Based on this they mocked and bullied. Police are changing the story.”
Alt News’s Mohammed Zubair pushed an FIR against those who reported the case
Notably, on 21st April, Alt News co-founder and propagandist Mohammad Zubair pushed for FIRs against those who reported the matter including X user MrSinha_. In a post on X, he shared screenshots of Sinha’s X post, OpIndia’s report and a statement issued by Tamil Nadu police and said, “Fake News and disinformation by (Nupur J Sharma) @UnSubtleDesi of OpIndia and MrSinha_ on the death of a woman in Tamil Nadu. They claimed that she was attacked for not voting for DMK and for voting for BJP. Fact: The incident happened due to previous enmity between two groups.”
After X user Mr Sinha had posted the news from local media reports, Tamil Nadu police directly threatened him with legal action. Mr Sinha took to X to say that he had deleted his post but questioned by the police was going after him instead of the news agencies which reported the incident.
He later confirmed that an FIR had indeed been filed against him and that Annamalai spoke to him assuring help.
Murder of Gomathi allegedly for voting BJP in Lok Sabha Elections, K Annamalai had reacted
On 19th April, a mob of Dravidra Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) workers allegedly attacked a woman named Gomathi for voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as per local reports. The incident occurred in the Pakkirimaniyam village in the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu. As per a report by Dinamalar, the DMK goons came to the residence of Gomathi after learning that she had voted for the BJP.
They had a heated argument with the victim, following which they brutally assaulted her. “Why didn’t you vote for our party,” they were heard saying.
On learning about the incident, the police reached the place and transferred Gomathi’s body to the Vrudhachalam Government Hospital for autopsy. Reacting to the incident, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai called it a very shocking incident. He tweeted that ‘DMK’s dictatorial tendency to do away with even the basic right of voting given to the citizens by the Constitution is very dangerous for democracy.’
However, later Tamil Nadu police denied the political angle to the incident and claimed that the woman died as a result of a feud between two families. In a statement issued responding to the reports of the incident, Cuddalore District Police claimed that the woman died after falling while trying to stop a fight between two families.