The simmering tension between atheist groups and Hindu outfits in the city in recent times came to the fore on Monday night with members of the Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam assaulting three persons, including two temple priests, and cutting their poonal (sacred thread). Police have arrested six men in connection with the attacks.
Viswanatha Gurukkal (76), the priest attached to the Madhava Perumal temple in Mylapore, was returning to his house on Karaneeshwarar Koil Street on Monday night. “Around 7.40 p.m. a six-member gang on three motorcycles intercepted the septuagenarian on Bazaar Road in Mylapore and assaulted him. The men snapped his sacred thread and rode away after pushing him down on the road,” said an investigating officer attached to the Mylapore police.
Around 6.30 p.m., the gang members, identified as cadre of DVK, targeted a bhajan singer on Srinivasa Pillai Street in Ashok Nagar. The victim Santhana Gopalan (71) was also attacked and his poonal cut. The senior citizen has not lodged a complaint, police sources said.
Viswanatha Gurukkal approached the Mylapore police with a complaint on Monday night and a case was registered. The suspected assailants Nanda Kumar (25), Prabhakaran (24), Divakar (23), Pradeep (24), Ravanan (30) and Arun (24), all members of DVK, were arrested on Tuesday. They were booked under nine sections of IPC including defiling objects of worship, promoting enmity between religions and causing fear or alarm among public. The men were remanded to judicial custody and sent to Puzhal prison on Tuesday afternoon.
Another priest, Ranganatha Iyer (65), lodged a complaint with the Ice House police, after a gang cut his sacred thread. Investigations revealed that the DVK men were behind the incident as well, sources added.
