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N Sathiya Moorthy in Chennai
The Centre on Tuesday banned two Tamil militant groups -- the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army and the Tamil National Retrieval Troops -- under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
The two groups were actively involved with forest brigand Veerappan in the abduction of Kannada matinee icon Dr Rajakumar. TNLA chief Maran was believed to be behind the 'political demands' put forth by the brigand. He was nabbed weeks after Dr Rajakumar's release.
The TNRT, active in the western and north-western districts of Erode and Perambalur, was founded by local cadres of the People's War group.
While the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had ordered the ban on the two organisations at the state-level and urged the Centre to proscribe them at the national-level, the incumbent chief minister, J Jayalalithaa, has been sending regular reminders to New Delhi on this score.
With the ban on the two groups, the number of militant groups banned under Pota has gone up to 32.
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