Following NIA raids, five vehicles, three shops vandalised in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: A SPDI functionary was assaulted by a group of unidentified people at Kannappa Nagar in Coimbatore on Friday.  This was among the multiple incidents which happened in the district for the second day following NIA searches on PFI offices. Additional police, including Rapid Action Force, were deployed across the district. Police took out flag marches and increased vehicle checks across the city. The situation is under control, police said.

Sources said, Zafrullah, the SDPI functionary, was returning home around 3 pm when a gang waylaid and assaulted him. The gang also damaged his bike. He was admitted to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH), police said.

In all, nine incidents that allegedly were a consequence of Thursday’s developments were reported in Coimbatore. Three cars and two autorickshaws belonging to BJP and Hindu Munnani cadre were damaged and petrol bombs were hurled at three shops between Thursday night and Friday morning.

Two TNSTC buses were damaged on Thursday evening and in the night, unidentified persons hurled petrol bombs outside the BJP office on VKK Menon Road and a textile shop in Oppanakara Street. Police detained three suspects for questioning.

On Friday, two persons hurled petrol bombs on a car belonging to BJP member Sivakumar in Pollachi. Two autorickshaws belonging to Hindu Munnani member Saravanakumar were also damaged in the same area. A car belonging to BJP cadre Ponraj in Kumaran Nagar was found damaged on Friday morning. Three separate cases were registered.  

In Mettupalayam, petrol bombs were hurled at two plywood godowns, but there was no damage, police said. A petrol bomb was hurled at the shop of a BJP cadre near Gandhipuram on Friday morning and a car belonging to Hindu Munnani cadre Thiyagu was set on fire in Kuniyamuthur on Friday.

Following the incidents, security was increased in the city on Friday. Four companies of Tamil Nadu Special Police (TSP), each of 100 personnel, and two companies of RAF were deployed in the city. Around 1,200 police,  including one company of TSP, were deployed across Coimbatore.