Tension prevailed in Shankar Nagar after two suspected ‘pipe bombs’ were recovered from the premises of a private cement factory on Tuesday night.
The police suspect that it was the handiwork of a few terminated contract workers. A few hundred permanent employees and over a thousand contract labourers were working in a private factory which is supplying construction material to various parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The management had to recently stop a few hundred contract labourers from attending work following instructions from the State Government that all manufacturing units would be allowed to function with a minimum workforce in the wake of COVID-19.
Against this backdrop, the factory authorities allegedly received threatening phone calls from a few unidentified persons on Tuesday night that improvised explosives would go off at five places in the factory premises if they were not given compensation of ₹ 50 lakh. Following complaints, Thazhaiyoothu police checked the factory premises with the help of Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad that led to the recovery of two ‘pipe bombs’ from the plant.
Superintendent of Police N. Manivannan checked the plant and deployed police personnel there. The recovered ‘pipe bombs’ have been sent for analysis. Six suspects were picked up for interrogation in the early hours of Wednesday.
“The investigation is on to identify the culprits,” an officer said.
Following investigations, Thazhaiyoothu police arrested M. Arumugam, 29, of Mela Thazhaiyoothu and J. Saleem, 25, an electrician from Pettai even as a special team is on the lookout for 3 more persons.
