Three persons, including a minor, were arrested in connection with the Uthangarai bomb blast incident that shook the district on Monday night.
An associate of the blast being a minor, would be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board in Salem and two others allegedly associated with the victim to commit a major crime G. Viji (22) and P. Sakthivel (22) were produced before the Uthangarai Judicial Magistrate M. Ramachandran and were remanded to police custody.
Two accused would be lodged in Salem Central Prison and the minor boy would be sent to Juvenile Home.
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Mr. Abishek Dixit, Superintendent of Police told the reporters here on Wednesday night that the victim of the bomb blast in Uthangarai T. Srinivasan (as per the army records) and his associates had planned to loot cash from the bank staff while they were about load cash in the ATM, usually done in the evening, reveals inquiry from the minor boy who had escaped from the scene soon after the blast near a tea shop in Uthangarai bazaar.
The victim and his associates had also visited two SBI ATMs in Tirupatthur and Viswamanagalam before targeting the Indian Bank ATM in Uthangarai, as there was no guard in the bank.
The boy, who was escaped from the blast site, had gone to Tirupathur with injuries for treatment. He was caught by the police and was brought to Samalpatti Police Station for enquiry on Tuesday. Police had conducted a marathon enquiry till late in the night on Tuesday with him.
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However, it was yet to be established the place of sourcing the materials including the gelatine sticks by the victim. The dealer of the explosive would be found and action would be initiated against him during the course of further investigation.
The body of the deceased was handed over to their relatives after the post mortem at the Salem Hospital. Forensic report is yet to be received.
Uthangarai police have registered a case under sections 342, 392, 307 of IPC and Section 5 of the Indian Explosive Substances Act.
Mr. S.R. Senthil Kumar, Additional Superintendent of Police, Crime In charge and PEW, Mr. V. Kasi Viswanathan, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Uthangarai and other officials were present during the press briefing.
Meantime, a hand was found near the ATM on the bazaar street on Wednesday morning. It was immediately brought to the notice of the local police. Uthangarai police recovered the hand and are investigating.
Police officials had also viewed the recordings of surveillance camera fitted in the bank on Tuesday and conducted a detailed enquiry with the bank officials and employees.