CHENNAI: Police arrested six persons from Chennai on Sunday, for alleged hurling kerosene bombs at the Teynampet police station on July 13. The accused have been remanded in judicial custody.
“We used the available CCTV footage and had some technical assistance from experts who helped us mirror the frames and get a clear picture of the suspects. Finally, we were able to identify them and recognise the vehicle models,” said TS Anbu, Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) in Chennai south division.
He added that some of the CCTV cameras in the station were DVR models and the police had faced some initial difficulties. The suspects who hurled the ‘Molotov cocktails’ on the police station in the wee hours on Thursday have been identified as M ‘Karukka’ Vinoth (35), J ‘Dio’ Mani (23), E Manikandan (20), N Aiyyapan (21) and S Arun (18).
One M Karthik (35) from Royapuram was also arrested for criminal conspiracy in the bomb-hurling incident. Among the accused, ‘Karukka’ Vinod and ‘Dio’ Mani are history-sheeters.
All six were arrested from different places on Sunday and their vehicles seized. All of them confessed to having committed the crime.
Police said, the accused used bottle bombs containing liquor and kerosene to attack the station. They came three two wheelers— a ‘Honda Dio’ moped, a ‘Hero CBZ’ and a ‘Honda CB Twister.’ Although the attack did not lead to any major casualties, a few motorcycles parked inside the police station were damaged. After the attack, six police teams were formed from the Teynampet, Pondi Bazaar, T Nagar, Vadapalani, Valasaravakam and KK Nagar police stations.
The teams worked in coordination under the supervision of Joint Commissioner Anbu. They investigated the available CCTV samples, police records, intelligence information and ruled out the possibility of any fundamentalist or extremist involvement. A few engineers from reputed IT forms were also called for technical support. After the evidences were made intelligible, the perpetrators were nabbed within 72 hours.
According to Police, the intention of the perpetrators was to scare off investigating officers. The police were already on the look-out for ‘Dio’ Mani. “Dio’ Mani has been warranted under the sections IPC 324 (voluntarily causing hurt), IPC 506-2 (criminal intimidation with an intention to cause death), and CrPC 341 (Appeal). Mani plotted with another history-sheeter ‘Karukka’ Vinoth and four others to attack the policemen in the Teynampet station.
The perpetrators may have been under the assumption that none of the CCTV cameras in Teynampet station were working. Five men hurled bombs, believing that it will prevent policemen from looking out for Mani”, said Anbu. The accused were produced before a magistrate in his house in Saidapet and remanded in 15-day judicial custody.