2000 Dharmapuri bus burning
The Dharmapuri bus burning occurred on 2 February 2000 in Ilakiyampatti, on the outskirts of Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu, India. Three students from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore (TNAU) were burned to death in a bus by AIADMK cadres after the conviction of Jayalaitha by a special court for the Kodaikanal Pleasant Stay Hotel case.
| 2000 Dharmapuri bus burning | |
|---|---|
The Hindu photo | |
| Location | Ilakiyampatti, Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Date | 2 February 2000 |
| Target | Tamil Nadu Agricultural University bus passengers |
Attack type | Arson, mass murder |
| Weapons | Petrol bomb |
| Deaths | 3 |
| Injured | 16 |
| Perpetrator | Muniappan, Nedunchezhian, Ravindran D.K. Rajendran and 24 other AIADMK members |
| Motive | Protest against Jayalalithaa's conviction in the Pleasant Stay hotel case |
The three men belonging to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)—Muniappan, Nedunchezhian, and Ravindran—were sentenced to death, and their sentences were initially upheld by the Supreme Court of India. Their sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment, however, by a three-member bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi after a review petition. The Salem District Court had said that the crime was committed "only for the political career". Although defense lawyer L. Nageswara Rao admitted that the three culprits took petrol from a workshop, set fire to the bus and killed the students, they were "in a state of mob frenzy" and his defense was based on diminished responsibility.
The Edappadi K. Palaniswami government advocated their release; the governor Banwarilal Purohit returned their files to the state government for reconsideration of their premature release and but it again sent to him and the three men all members of the ruling AIADMK were released from the Vellore Central Prison in November 2018.