The Special Court for the trial of Bomb Blast Cases in Coimbatore on Monday sentenced three members of the Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) to undergo seven years of imprisonment for hurling Molotov cocktails at the BJP office in the city in 2018.
Sessions judge S. Sashirekha, in-charge of the court, convicted P. Balan (42) alias Gopal of Cheran Nagar near Kavundampalayam, M. Jeevanantham (35) alias Jeeva and B. Gowtham (33) of Neelikonampalayam.
They were arrested for hurling two Molotov cocktails at the BJP’s Coimbatore office in the early hours of March 7, 2018. The attack was in response to comments made by BJP leader H. Raja on Facebook, denigrating social reformer Periyar E.V. Ramasamy. Jeevanantham held the post of TPDK’s the urban district organising secretary.
During investigation, it was found that the three threw the crude explosive at the two-storeyed building that houses BJP office on VKK Menon Road, near Gandhipuram, around 3.20 a.m. While one of the bottles exploded on the sunshade of the ground floor, the second one hit the name board of a travel agency functioning on the ground floor, fell on the road and exploded. The party office functioned on the first floor. The three had hired a two-wheeler from a mechanic for the attack.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹1,000 each on the three persons.