Petrol bomb hurled at BJP headquarter in Chennai, sparks minor fire – Times of India

CHENNAI: A petrol bomb hurled at Kamalalayam, Tamil Nadu BJP’s headquarters, in T Nagar caused a minor fire and a major political furore on Thursday.
While police nabbed a history-sheeter in connection with the incident and ruled out any political angle in the incident, BJP state president, K Annamalai, alleged a ‘larger conspiracy behind it’ and demanded a probe by National Investigation Agency (NIA).
According to West Mambalam police, Vinod alias Karukka Vinod, 38, of Teynampet brought three petrol-filled bottles and lit and hurled one inside the Kamalalayam campus at 1.30am on Thursday. When a constable on security duty chased Vinod, he abandoned the remaining two bottles and escaped.
An officer, who is part of the investigation squad, said Vinod claimed he hurled the bottle at the BJP office because the party did not exclude Tamil Nadu from NEET examination.
Accused: Gained knowledge on NEET through fellow prisoner
Police said Vinod was arrested in June last year in connection with a similar petrol-bomb attack on a Tasmac shop in T Nagar in 2017.
He came out of jail only on February 3 and was staying with his mother at Sathya Murthy Nagar in Teynampet.
Though he studied only up to Class III, Vinod said he gained knowledge about NEET through a fellow prisoner who explained the NEET controversy to him while they were lodged at Central Prison in Puzhal.
Soon after the city police control room was alerted about the incident, deputy commissioner Balaji Saravanan and additional deputy commissioner of CCB Saravanakumar visited the spot. A forensic team collected samples and retrieved the two unburnt crude bombs from the spot.
Scrutiny of CCTV camera footage in the locality showed Vinod hurling the bottles into the BJP office premises. When police visited his mother’s house in SM Nagar, Mariammal told police that she chased him out when he told her about the incident.
While police were searching for Vinod, he visited the Teynampet police station and sought to meet the assistant commissioner of police. However, as he was found drunk, the policemen had turned him away and asked him to come in the morning, as they did not realise he was wanted in connection with the Kamalalayam incident.
As Vinod was using his mother Mariammal’s mobile phone, police tracked his movement and nabbed him from a building under construction near SM Nagar. By then he had contacted a Saidapet court lawyer and his wife Vanammal, who is in Madurai.
Police said they videographed Vinod’s statement to avoid discrepancies and to counter possible political speculation around the petrol bomb incident. While BJP office secretary Chandran lodged a formal complaint, another group of partymen protested in front of their party headquarters for about 15 minutes in the morning.