8 Members Of A Periyarist-Dravidian Outfit Held By Chennai Cops For Attempted Petrol Bomb Attack On Gurumurthy’s Home

The Chennai city police on Monday (Jan 27) arrested eight members of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, for attempting to throw petrol bombs at the residence of Editor of Thuglak magazine, S Gurumurthy, early on Sunday, New Indian Express reported.

The accused were identified as M Sasikumar (33) and R Deepan (32) of Mylapore, V Janarthanan (36) of Ayanavaram, M Balu (30), P Prasanth (23) and K Vasudevan (32) of Royapettah, S Thamizh (23) of Pammal, and E Sakthi (22) of Tiruvallur.

“We scanned CCTV footages and nabbed a couple of people,” Times Of India quoted Chennai city commissioner of police A K Viswanathan as saying.

The person who had his face covered and attempted get close to the gate with an intent to hurl the petrol bombs in his bag has been identified as Sasikumar. He has several cases pending against him, including that of two petrol bomb attacks on Woodlands Hotel and Sathyam theatre here.

Thanthai Periyar Dravida Kazhagam (TPDK) is a fringe Periyarist outfit that was formed under the leadership of Annur Jagadeesan and K Ramakrishnan. TPDK is a breakaway group after the split of Kolathur Mani led Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (which itself is a splinter group that was formed after a split from K. Veeramani led Dravidar Kazhagam).

In 2018, Coimbatore city police had arrested two Thanthai Periyar Dravida Kazhagam for hurling petrol bombs at BJP office in Kovai.

Few members of organisation were also allegedely involved in cutting the sacred thread of an elderly man in Triplicane. The group had also staged an event were pigs were made to wear the ritual thread on Avani Attam.

Few activists of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam also held protest against actor Rajinikanth over his remarks on E.V. Ramasamy 'Periyar'.

The foiled bomb attack came a day before Gurumurthy edited magazine republished a 1971 article on Salem rally (were Hindu deities were slippered by followers of Dravidian ideologue E.V Ramasamy Naicker) which has invited the ire of Periyarists. The issue was brought the fore after actor-turned-politician Rajnikanth referred to incident at an event marking 50- years of the magazine on January 14.