Petrol bomb hurled at refugee camp by right wing activists

COIMBATORE: A volleyball match ended up in violence with a

petrol bomb hurled

at the Sri Lankan

refugee camp

at Pooluvapatti near Alandurai on Saturday.

According to the police, a group of youths in the refugee camp were playing volleyball on Saturday evening. A verbal duel broke out between Vijay and Antony, who were playing the game in a drunken state.

Seeing Vijay and Antony fighting with each other, Shiva, 52, also a refugee, intervened to end the fight. But Shiva was pushed and attacked by the duo. Later, Shiva informed his son Kalip alias Sukendra kumar about the incident.

Police said Sukendrakumar has approached his friends who were members of

Hindu Munnani

in the locality. G Ramesh Kumar, 29, of Viraliyur near Alandurai, who is the urban district secretary of Hindu Munnani, had contacted Antony over mobile phone and questioned him about the attack on Shiva.

However, Antony allegedly abused Ramesh Kumar in drunken mood. Immediately, Ramesh Kumar went to the refugee camp along with a group of Hindu Munnani members in search of Antony.

Police said the group assaulted L Suman alias Charles Jayaseelan, 34, a welder and a refugee, with wooden logs when he came out of the camp to attend nature’s call. Immediately, a group of youths from the refugee camp attacked Hindu Munnani members in retaliation.

Ramesh Kumar and Suman suffered severe injuries in the attack. Both of them were taken to the

Coimbatore Medical College

and Hospital (CMCH).

Meanwhile, the Hindu Munnani cadres hurled a petrol bomb at the camp and vandalized four motorcycles parked in the refugee camp.

Ramesh Kumar lodged a complaint with the Alandurai police who registered a case against J John Philip alias Stalin, 23, and M Gajendran, of Sri Lankan refugee camp under sections 147 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 294 (b) (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words in or near any public place), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 307 (attempt to murder) and 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Suman also filed a counter complaint against T Sivaraj, 45, C Rajinikanth, 36, and K Thutheeshwaran, 35, all from refugee camps.

Based on both the complaints, police arrested Sivaraj, Rajinikanth, John Philip and Thutheeshwaran on Sunday. But the rural police did not register any case against Hindu Munnani members and Ramesh Kumar. The police also did not register a case for hurling bomb at the camp.