Security up at news magazines office

CHENNAI: Police intensified security around the office of Tamil bi-weekly magazine Nakkheeran on Saturday after AIADMK cadre, enraged over a scurrilous article published in its latest issue, staged protests. AIADMK cadre set on fire copies of the magazine that hit the stands on Saturday, at different places around the State as they found the headline of the cover story inflammatory and content objectionable.Police sources said groups of cadre trooped to the magazine office in Jani Jan Khan Road in Royapettah, near Zam Bazaar police station, to express disgust. Close to 5,000 people held protests, in which effigies of the magazine editor was set on fire, at 56 places in Chennai.Senior party functionaries Chitlapakkam Rajendran MP, MLAs Manimaran (Poonamallee), Abdul Raheem  (Avadi), V P Kalairajan (T Nagar), K P Kandan (Sholinganallur), M K Ashok (Velachery) and many others led the protests, police said. “We are just demonstrating. We cannot tolerate the language used in the magazine,” said Madhusudanan,  AIADMK presidium chairman.Later in the evening, the AIADMK announced its decision to sue the magazine.C Ponnaiyan, the party’s organising secretary, said the report was malicious and aimed at spreading canards about the chief minister. The party will take legal action against the publisher, proprietor and editorial in charge of Nakkheeran, he said in a statement.For his part, magazine editor Nakkheeran Gopal argued that the cover story was in favour of the chief minister. “If they have a different view on the article, they can go to court,” he told reporters.