Chennai (Tamil Nadu): A petrol bomb was hurled at the house of an RSS leader near Tambaram near Chennai in the early hours of Saturday, said the police. No person was injured or no major property damage took place.
"Petrol bomb hurled on RSS functionary Seetharaman's residence at Chitlapakkam in Tambaram near Chennai. Efforts underway to nab two unidentified people who threw petrol bomb," according to the Tamil Nadu police. The occupant, Seetharaman (62), a district coordinator of RSS was inside the house with his family.
Family members rushed out after hearing a loud noise. "At around 4 am, we heard a loud sound and saw fire outside. We thought it to be a short circuit but it wasn't the case. We doused the fire and called police officials. They got the footage of the accused," Seetharaman told ANI.
After being informed about the incident, Chitlapakkam police officers came to the spot and examined the CCTV footage of the area. The footage revealed that suspects on a two-wheeler stopped in front of Sitharaman's house, ignited the bottle filled with petrol and threw it inside the house.
Pallikaranai Deputy Commissioner Jose Thangaiah came to the spot after receiving the information, inspected the spot where the petrol bomb was thrown and made inquiries. The incident has created a sensation in the Tambaram area.
Another bottle bomb was hurdled at BJP worker Sarath's residence in Kuniyamuthur city in Tamil Nadu on Friday night in which a car parked in the premises was damaged. Earlier on Thursday, a bottle filled with inflammable substance was hurled at the BJP office. Following this, BJP workers protested in the area demanding action against the culprits. According to BJP, this is a kind of "terror attack".
"Petrol bomb thrown at our office, this is how terror attacks come, today raids (against PFI) took place at several places, it is the anniversary of Hindu Munnani leader and BJP National president too is in the state," Nandkumar, BJP worker said on Thursday. Speaking about it GK Nagaraj said, "The bomb hurdled at the BJP office was not a petrol bomb, it was a kerosene-filled bottle bomb."
Police reached the spot to take control of the situation and conducted a preliminary investigation. The incident came hours after National Investigation Agency, Enforcement Directorate and the state police forces jointly carried out coordinated searches at the houses and offices of the top Popular Front of India (PFI) leaders and members across India on Thursday, including Tamil Nadu.
Searches were conducted at 93 locations in 15 states of India on Thursday. The states where the raids were conducted included Andhra Pradesh (4), Telangana (1), Delhi (19), Kerala (11), Karnataka (8), Tamil Nadu (3), Uttar Pradesh (1), Rajasthan (2), Hyderabad (5), Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal, Bihar and Manipur. A total of 106 Popular Front of India (PFI) cadres were arrested yesterday in a joint operation conducted by the National Investigation Agency, Enforcement Directorate and state police forces across 15 states in the country's multiple locations, according to the sources.
The searches were conducted in connection with five cases registered by the NIA following "continued inputs and evidence" that the PFI leaders and cadres were involved in the funding of terrorism and terrorist activities, organising training camps for providing armed training and radicalising people to join banned organisations.
A large number of criminal cases have been registered in different states over the last few years against the PFI and its leaders and members for their involvement in many violent acts. Earlier on Thursday, the PFI and SDPI workers staged a protest in Karnataka's Mangaluru against the raids, following which they were detained by the state police.
PFI workers sat on the road in protest against the NIA raid at the party office in Chennai. The PFI was launched in Kerala in 2006. (ANI)
