Petrol bomb hurled at BJP office in Chennai, one detained

Chennai, Feb 10: Unidentified persons hurled petrol bombs at the headquarters of the Tamil Nadu BJP in Chennai in the wee hours of Thursday. One person, identified as Vinodh, has been detained in connection with the incident so far.

The incident took place at Kamalalayam, the state BJP HQ, at around 1.30 am on Thursday when the men came on a motorcycle and hurled bombs at the building. No one was hurt in the incident.

The man, a known history-sheeter, arrived on a two-wheeler and quickly fled the spot after hurling the bottles at the entrance area of the party office.

Police was alerted immediately and a team of officials inspected the spot and CCTV cameras were scrutinised. The BJP HQ is located in downtown T Nagar.

It was found that the miscreant was 38-year old Vinoth alias 'Karukka' Vinoth, who faces a bunch of criminal cases including attempts to murder and he was arrested, a city police release said.

According to a preliminary probe, there is no political or religious aspect to this attack and Vinoth has a history of carrying out such attacks, under the influence of alcohol, in matters of public interest.

The probe revealed that he had thrown the bottles to show his opposition to the BJP's stand supporting the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test. The investigation is continuing.

In 2015, he had thrown a petrol bomb at a liquor retail outlet and in 2017 at the entrance of Teynampet police station here in connection with some issues. He was arrested in both the cases and had been remanded to judicial custody.

Barring the BJP, other political parties in Tamil Nadu are opposed to the national entrance test for medical admissions and on February 8, a Bill was adopted again by the Assembly to bypass the examination in the state.

"We demand a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into this incident. The guilty should be booked and punished. Law and order deteriorating in our state. NIA is the only solution to this incident where truth and conspiracy will come out," said Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai.