Cow dies in TN after biting country made bomb; three arrested

COIMBATORE: Two youths and an elderly man were arrested by the forest department officials on Thursday for making and placing a country made bomb near Mettupalayam which led to the death of a cow that bit it.
The arrested men have been identified as M Gunasekaran, 22, of Dhasampalayam and V Srikanth, 22 and N Krishnan, 64 of Kendaiyur. Another accused ,K Prakash, 30, of Tank Medu was absconding.
Gunasekaran and Dhasampalayam told forest department officials that they had placed the bomb to hunt wild boars. They said that they learnt to make the bomb by watching videos online.
A forest department official said Gunasekaran, a Class X dropout, worked as a plumber. Srikanth was a painter and Prakash was a daily wage labourer.
Gunasekaran, Dhasampalayam and Prakash made the bombs. Prakash's father, Krishnan, received the bombs from the trio and kept it with him at his residence.
The three men planned to hunt wild boars using the bombs. They used crackers that were purchased for temple festivals to make the explosive, the official added.
Mettupalayam forest range officer Selvaraj said, “The three accused made a bomb and tested it on an agricultural field near the reserve forest. Later, they made three bombs and placed them near the fields at Sengalpadugai at Kallar in Mettupalayam to hunt wild boars.”
One of the bombs exploded after a cow owned by AR Mohammed Jaffar Ali, 56, bit it and suffered severe injuries.
On August 15, Mettupalayam forest range officials registered a case and the cow died on August 17.
“Following the death of the cow, the men removed the two bombs and handed them over to Prakash’s father Krishnan. The four men were closely monitored by the forest department team and they confessed to the crime,” Selvaraj said.
The three arrested men were produced before a judicial magistrate and later remanded. Further investigations were on.