A bottle filled with vehicle fuel was lighted and hurled at the house of a Bharatiya Janata Party functionary at Vadavalli in Coimbatore district during the early hours of Thursday.
According to police sources, S. Ramanathan (33), the zonal head of Velandipalayam for BJP, was residing on the first floor of a house at Somayanpalayam. He was among the Hindu outfit leaders in Tamil Nadu to have been provided with an armed Personal Security Officer (PSO) following the murder of Hindu outfit activists at Vellore and Salem.
Ramanathan and his PSO had come home around 11.15 p.m. on Wednesday night. They heard loud knocks around 12.30 a.m.
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Fearing something amiss, they did not open the door.
After a few minutes, they heard a bottle crash. Following this, Ramanathan immediately alerted party cadres while the PSO alerted the Coimbatore District Rural Police.
Upon examination of the site, the police found that a petrol bomb (Molotov cocktail) had been thrown.
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The bottle had landed in an open space and had not caused any damage or injury. M. Sudhakar, Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore Rural, examined the spot along with Deputy Superintendent of Police Thangadurai, Vadavalli Inspector Bhaskar and other police personnel.
Ramanathan had lodged a police complaint after an organisation had put up posters in Coimbatore opposing the visit of Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to Tamil Nadu.
The police suspect this could be retaliation for the complaint. Vadavalli Police have registered a case.