Rajinikanth has been summoned by the Justice Aruna Jegadeesan Commission to give a deposition on 19 January 2021 in the case of the Thoothukudi police firing during the 2018 anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, reported ANI on Monday.
The actor had said that “anti-social elements” were involved in the firing, which resulted in the death of 13 persons.
In May 2018, protests against the copper branch of Vedanta Limited, Sterlite Copper, erupted in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, because of concerns over the environmental damage caused by the plant and its expansion. During the protest, the police in Thoothukudi opened fire and killed 13 people. The police subsequently said that they had fired because the Collector’s office was under threat from protestors.