CHENNAI: Unidentified men hurled six crude bombs – lit petrol-filled bottles — at New Woodlands Hotel on Dr Radhakrishnan Salai in Chennai in the early hours of Monday. The men, numbering 15 who came in three autorickshaws, damaged windowpanes and furniture in the reception, an ice cream parlour and an office room at the hotel.
No one was injured in the attack, police said.
The hotel is owned by Kannadigas, and the attack happened in the backdrop of the Cauvery water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It happened a day after a Tamil youth was attacked in Bengaluru for posting messages on social media supporting Tamil Nadu.
Security guards at the Woodlands Hotel told police that the attackers raised slogans against the Karnataka government and Kannadigas. They also stuck a message, written in Tamil, on a windowpane in the ice cream parlour. The message read: “If Tamils are attacked continuously in Karnataka, Kannadiga workplaces here (in Tamil Nadu) will be attacked. Kannadigas live here too. Beware.’
No organisation claimed responsibility for the attack. Police said the attack might have been the handiwork of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK).
A police officer said, “There are active TPDK workers in Royapettah. They had earlier attacked a post office and were involved in cutting the sacred thread of Brahmins in Mylapore area.”
The Royapettah police registered a case and were searching for the suspects. They collected footage from the CCTV camera at the hotel.
The hotel management was yet ascertain the loss. It could be more than a few lakh rupees, police said.
Tamil Nadu police DGP T K Rajendran and Chennai city police commissioner S George instructed their subordinates to assign police vehicles to patrol near the institutions, hotels and commercial establishments run by Kannadigas in Chennai and other parts of the state.
(Sourced from agencies, Feature image courtesy:www.newindianexpress.com)
