Kovai shops shut, miscreants damage 4 buses

At around 11 am, two unidentified men in a two-wheeler hurled stones on a private bus bound to SITRA from Gandhipuram near Pappanaickenpalayam. When the bus was stopped, the duo got down from their vehicle and smashed the front glass panes of the bus by attacking it with an iron rod in full public view. 

On an attacking spree, the two men also hurled stones on another private bus, which came from Ondipudur and damaged its front glass panes by assaulting with the iron rod. The shell-shocked bus crew informed the Race Course police, who then rushed to the spot and efforts are on to trace the culprits with some recorded CCTV images. 

The same men were believed to have targeted another private bus in a similar fashion, an hour later at 12 noon, in Peelamedu area.  In another incident, the front glass panes of a TNSTC bus from Gandhipuram to Alandurai was damaged as unidentified persons threw stones on it near Boluvampatty in Coimbatore outskirts. 

As buses came under attack, the private operators stayed off the road from noon in the district, while government buses continued to run with a skeletal number of passengers. 

Anticipating trouble, over 90 per cent of shops and commercial establishments remained shut in both Coimbatore and Tirupur districts. Several groups of men, believed to be BJP workers, went around asking shopkeepers to shut in Rangai Gowder Street and Town Hall. 

Establishments remained closed in areas such as RS Puram, Mill Road, Mettupalayam Road and Kadalaikara Street, which has a large north Indian population. Barring a few hotels and bakeries, all shops had downed shutters in Cross Cut Road, Big Bazaar Street and Saibaba Colony areas.