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Controversy over arrests in Tamil Nadu about construction of flyovers

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ5166021 ↗
Source-derived summary

On 30 June 2001, M. Karunanidhi, the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu was arrested along with the minister of commerce and industry, Murasoli Maran, and the minister of environment and forests, T. R. Baalu. This event marked the first incident in the history of independent India in which ministers of the Republic of India were arrested. The incident began when the seventy-eight-year-old former chief minister was forcibly taken from his residence located in Gopalapuram, Chennai. Within hours, the images of the arrest were broadcast on Sun TV and other network stations. Footage shown on Jaya TV shows him continuously resisting arrest.

Background

The First Information Report (FIR) was based on a complaint lodged by Greater Chennai Corporation (back then just Chennai Corporation) Commissioner J. C. T. Acharyalu on 29 June 2001. Mr. Acharyalu became Corporation Commissioner following the 2001 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election held by the Jayalalithaa Government. He had been kept under suspension by the Karunanidhi Government. The complaint related to alleged losses of ₹12 crore (equivalent to ₹48 crore or US$5.0 million in 2023) in the construction of the mini-flyovers in the city of Chennai.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Controversy over arrests in Tamil Nadu about construction of flyovers” as open-knowledge reference entry. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2001, 2023—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Controversy, over and arrests can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as open-knowledge reference entry. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5166021. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2001 and 2023.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Controversy over arrests in Tamil Nadu about construction of flyovers”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Controversy over arrests in Tamil Nadu about construction of flyovers primary sources, Controversy over arrests in Tamil Nadu about construction of flyovers archive and Controversy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Controversy over arrests in Tamil Nadu about construction of flyovers” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.