Chennai: The Chennai police on Tuesday arrested four activists of the Dravidar Vidhuthalai Kazhagam, a Tamil interests group, for hurling petrol bombs at two post offices in Chennai. The miscreants hurled 2-3 petrol bombs at post offices in Mandaveli and Mylapore at 7 am.
The arrested accused are Umapathy, Marimuthu, Ravanan and Manoharan. Joint CP K Shankar said the miscreants had attacked the post offices in a bid to protest against India's participation in the Commonwealth Head of Governments Meet (CHOGM) at Sri Lanka. The accused will be produced in court later in the evening.
Chennai has been on the boil over the issue of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Sri Lanka for CHOGM. The Tamil Nadu assembly had unanimously passed a resolution against the PM's visit while the Sri Lankan envoy has said India would be isolated if it does not attend. Meanwhile, Union Minister Salman Khurshid has confirmed India's participation in the CHOGM. Tamil interest groups across the state have been protesting this through petitions to the PM, demonstrations and dharnas.
Earlier in the day, the Madras HC dismissed a petition filed by Transnational Government for Tamil Eelam, an advocacy group for Sri Lankan Tamils, saying the petitioner had no locus standi to ask the government to refrain from participation.