The Hindu : Front Page : Six killed in group clash at Tenkasi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2007
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Six killed in group clash at Tenkasi

P. Sudhakar

Activists of Hindu Munnani, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam involved

TENKASI: Six persons, including three brothers, were killed in a clash between activists of the Hindu Munnani and the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam here on Tuesday. Five others sustained grievous injuries.

The police said Murugesan alias Abdullah (28) of Achchanputhur and his associate Hanifa (24) of Tenkasi, released on bail in a case of murder of Tenkasi town Hindu Munnani president, S. Kumar Pandian, were returning after signing the register at the All Women Police Station, Tenkasi, as part of fulfilling their bail conditions. Their two-wheeler, which was escorted by their supporters in four autorickshaws, was hit by a car near Koolakkadai Bazaar at 10.15 a.m.

Immediately, an armed gang assaulted the duo with deadly weapons. Their supporters in the autorickshaws retaliated with weapons. In the five-minute clash in the busy area, Hasan Ghani (30) and Kumar Pandian’s younger brothers S. Suresh (25) and S. Sekar (29) were killed on the spot. Basheer (30) succumbed to injuries at the Government Hospital here.

Kumar Pandian’s another brother, Senthil, Raja, Abdullah, Abu Anzari, Nagoor Meeran, Meeran Maideen and Syed Ali, who sustained grievous injuries, were rushed to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital. However, Senthil and Nagoor Meeran died in the hospital.

Shops down shutters

All business establishments in the town downed their shutters and schools declared a holiday for the day. Bus services were not hit, thanks to immediate police deployment, led by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, P. Kannappan. The Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order), K. Vijay Kumar, the Inspector General of Police, South Zone, Sanjeev Kumar, and the Superintendent of Police, C. Sridhar, are camping here.

Speaking to reporters, Collector G. Prakash said that all efforts would be made to bring back normality in Tenkasi at the earliest by instilling confidence in the minds of the public. Anticipating law and order problems in the sensitive areas of Kadayanallur and Melapalayam, additional police forces had been deployed.

“After Kumar Pandian was murdered on December 17, 2006, an attempt on the life of Maideen Sait Khan was made on March 2. Due to previous enmity between two groups and subsequent clashes, six persons have been murdered. This is not a clash between the followers of two religions,” Mr. Prakash said.

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