TIRUNELVELI: Nanguneri police on Saturday arrested three youngsters, belonging to a Most Backward Class community, after the Scheduled Caste residents from the region claimed that the former hurled petrol bombs at the wall paintings of B R Ambedkar and VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan on Friday night. The Tirunelveli district police office, however, described it as a minor incident, in a communication shared with the media. Meanwhile, on Saturday, VCK general secretary Thol Thirumavalavan condemned the incident during a press briefing in Madurai.
Sources claimed that enmity stemming from social media posts about the portraits of the leaders triggered the incident. Police communication stated that the suspects have been identified as Esakki Muthu (20) of Tirunelveli Nainarkulam, Bala Mahesh (19) of Ramayanpatti, and Nagarajan (19) of Pattarpillai Pudur. SP V Prassannakumar said that another person’s involvement is also suspected.
The incident occurred in a street, inhabited by people belonging to the SC communities, where Nanguneri caste atrocity victim Chinnadurai’s family was residing. A Anbalagan, a representative of the residents, told TNIE that three petrol bombs were hurled at the walls bearing the portraits of the leaders and at a 1,000-litre water tank. He said, “Three persons, who arrived on a two-wheeler, were captured on CCTV cameras in our area. They were seen scouting around. They could not get any closer to the wall as construction materials were piled nearby. So, they hurled the bombs targeting the portraits of Thirumavalavan and Ambedkar.”
Further, he claimed that the miscreants must have entered the area only after 10.30 pm, as residents, including himself, were on the street till then. He said, “Shards of glass were scattered at the spot. Their intention was to target the portraits of the leaders, as none of the vehicles parked nearby were damaged.” He added that the residents convened an “oor koottam”, following which Deputy SP Dharshika Natarajan held talks with them on Sunday. “We resolved to meet Collector Dr R Sukumar on Monday. The deputy SP assured us of action, but we have not been given a copy of the FIR yet. We want the state government to establish a police outpost in our area,” he said.