Four more persons were arrested in the case relating to the burning of copies of ‘Dinakaran' newspaper on Wednesday at Arasampatti on Coimbatore–Pollachi road. With this the total number of person arrested has risen to six.
The incident is said to be a fallout of the publication of a caricature of Prophet Mohammed in Mutharam, a weekly news magazine published from the house of ‘Dinakaran.' On Tuesday night, the activists of a minority outfit staged a demonstration in front of the newspaper office. On Wednesday morning, a group of six activists intercepted a mini cargo vehicle and set fire to the copies of the newspaper numbering nearly 2,500. Inspector-General of Police - West Zone P. Sivanandi constituted special teams under the supervision of the DIG of Police - Coimbatore Range, B. Bala Nagadevi.
The special teams led by Superintendent of Police - Tirupur District A. Arun (holding additional charge of Coimbatore) arrested all the six accused within 24 hours of the incident. The arrested have been identified as Mubarak, Mohammed Farooq, Abu alias Abudaheer, Nizam, Ashraf Ali and Sherief, all hailing from Coimbatore.