Petrol bombs hurled at HMK member’s house, no casualties

Unidentified assailants hurled at least four petrol bombs at the house of a member of Hindu Makkal Katchi in Periyapalayam in Thiruvallur district early on Sunday. While no one was hurt, the police said that only a cot placed in the front side of the house was damaged in the incident. 

Around 3 am on Sunday, Sarath Kumar, the office bearer of the Hindu outfit, and his family heard loud thuds and came out of the house to see a few people running from the gate. The cot and some plastic items caught fire in front of the house. Some of the neighbours who gathered hearing the explosion helped the family douse the fire.  At the time of the incident, Kumar’s wife, child and mother were also present in the house. 

Based on an alert, a police team led by Periyapalayam DSP rushed to the scene.  

The police picked up broken bottles and four wicks – remains of a Molotov cocktail — from the scene.   

As the news spread, other office bearers of the outfit too stated reaching the spot. 

The police believe that Kumar’s plan to conduct public meetings in Peiyapalayam to explain BJP leader H Raja’s stand on Periyar, could have triggered the attack. 

It may be recalled that Raja’s statement of Facebook calling for destroying statues of rationalist icon Periyar in Tamil Nadu, the way Russian leader Lenin’s statue was damaged in Tripura after  BJP won the Assembly election there, had kicked up a  political storm in the state.  Raja later deleted the post following backlash.