A history sheeter on Wednesday afternoon hurled a petrol bomb targetting the high-security main gate of Raj Bhavan in Guindy where Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi resides. Police personnel who were on duty at the gate, caught him and took him into custody.
Police said at around 3 p.m., a person who walked up from Sardar Patel Road and stood near the Highway Research station, lit a wick on a bottle filled with petrol and threw targetting the main gate of Raj Bhavan. It stopped far short of the gate and landed on the road near the iron barricade before the main gate.
Additional Commissioner of Police, South, Prem Anand Sinha said, “Then, police personnel who were on bandobust duty near the gate quickly surrounded him. Since the bottle landed before the barricade near the maingate of Raj Bhavan, no one was injured and there were no damage to property either.”
On interrogation, police identified him as Vinodh alias ‘Karukka’ Vinodh, 42, of S.M. Nagar, Nandanam. In 2022, he pelted petrol bombs at the BJP party office and was also involved in a similar offence at Teynampet police station in 2017. He also involved in hurling a petrol bomb at a Tasmac outlet in 2017. Recently, he had come out on bail from prison. He had 14 criminal cases against him for offences, including attempt to murder.
Mr. Sinha said, “In the morning, he consumed liquor and during the time he was outside the Raj Bhavan, he was in an inebriated condition. He was secured safely and four bottles were seized from him, after which he was taken to the police station. Further interrogation is on.”
“Since we had adequate police force at the place of occurence who were alert, we have averted any major incident,” the Additional Commissioner added. Asked if they knew the motive, he added that they were waiting for the man they had arrested to become sober. After that, details about his motive will become clear.
Official post
Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan confirmed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the premises was attacked on Wednesday afternoon, and miscreants carrying bombs tried to barge in through the main gate.
However, alert sentries deterred the assailants, who hurled two petrol bombs inside Raj Bhavan and fled, the social media post added.
Complaint filed with Police Commissioner
A complaint has been filed with the Greater Chennai Police Commissioner. The complaint, which was accessed by The Hindu said that there have been “sustained vicious attacks on the Governor using filthy abuses and wielding threats to his life.” “These verbal attacks and threats to the Hon’ble Governor have been made mostly by leaders and workers of DMK and its allies in their public meetings and through their social media,” the complaint stated.
The plaint, filed by the Seputy Secretary of the Governor, also gave accounts of previous attacks on the Governor, alleging that while the Raj Bhavan lodged a complaint, an FIR was never filed and no action was taken against the offenders.
