Tension prevailed in Shankar Nagar on the outskirts of Tirunelveli city after two suspected ‘pipe bombs’ were recovered from the premises of a private cement factory around Tuesday midnight.
Police suspect that it was the handiwork of a few terminated contract workers.
Sources in the police said a few hundred permanent employees and over a thousand contract labourers were working in a private cement factory in Shankar Nagar on the city outskirts, which is supplying construction material to various parts of Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Kerala.
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Sabotage suspected
The management had to recently stop from attending work a few hundred contract labourers following instructions from the State Government that all manufacturing units across Tamil Nadu would be allowed to function with minimum workforce in the wake of COVID-19.
Against this backdrop, the cement 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 cement factory premises if they were not given compensation of ₹50 lakh.
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Following complaints from the cement factory management, the Thaazhaiyooththu 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 late in the night.
Superintendent of Police N. Manivannan, who visited the cement factory around midnight, conducted comprehensive check on the plant premises and deployed police personnel there. The recovered ‘pipe bombs’ have been sent for analysis.
Following preliminary investigations, six suspects were picked-up for interrogation in the early hours of Wednesday.
“We suspect the involvement of good number of people in this sabotage. The investigation is on to identify the culprits,” an officer said.