The Madras High Court issued notices to Chennai’s police commissioner and the Superintendents of Police of Kanchipuram and Villupuram districts in the matter.

Two days after Mugilan — the activist who alleged that senior police officers were involved in the Sterlite firing — went missing, the Madras High Court issued notices to the Commissioner of Police, Chennai and the Superintendents of Police of Kanchipuram and Villupuram districts based on a habeas corpus petition filed in the court.

The petition was filed by human rights lawyer and activist Henri Tiphagne. It stated that Mugilan, the Coordinator of Tamil Nadu Environment Protection Movement, has been missing since Saturday morning and that despite repeated complaints, the police has not filed a ‘missing person’ FIR. The petition also stated that it is suspected that Mugilan was picked up by the state government over his role in exposing the alleged involvement of senior police officers — Sailesh Kumar Yadav (Inspector General of Police, South Zone) and Kapil Kumar Saratkar (Deputy Inspector General of Police, Tirunelveli Range) — in the open firing that took place in Thoothukudi on May 22, 2018.