Fringe outfit attacks TV channel office; six held

A fringe right-wing outfit is suspected to have carried out an attack on a Tamil TV channel office here by hurling cracker stuffed tiffin boxes today over a proposed show on 'mangal sutra' and police in a swift action arrested six men in connection with the incident, condemned as an assault on freedom of expression.
Motorcycle-borne assailants hurled two tiffin boxes packed with crackers after lighting the wick which burst inside the premises early today but no one was injured and no damage caused in the attack caught on CCTV cameras, police said.
The attack, which was condemned by media bodies and political parties, was suspected to have been carried out at the instigation of Jeyam Pandian, organiser of the Hindu Youth Sena organisation, who surrendered before a judicial magistrate court in Madurai hours after the incident, they said.

Pandian, who was remanded to judicial custody till March 19, in a statement took objection to the channel's programme on women wearing mangalsutra, which was dropped after opposition from Hindu Munnani.
"We have arrested six persons -- K Mahadevan, P Murali, S Siva, C Saravanan, R Venugopal, Raja," Chennai Police Commissioner S George told reporters.
Investigation revealed that the men, employees of a transport firm run by Pandian, acted at the behest of Venugopal and all were arrested here, he added.

A police release said probe by seven special teams revealed that the six men were involved in the attack on the office of 'Puthiya Thalaimurai' news channel at 3 am.

While initially it was suspected to be a crude bomb attack, the release said the assailants threw the tiffin boxes which had crackers made by Pandian.
A motorbike used for the crime and unused crackers were seized, it added.
Police commissioner said that they were verifying if those arrested were involved in any other crimes. "Some elements are doing it for publicity."
"We are vigilant, alert and sensitive to acts to intimidation and violence to any people by any group," he said as the incident drew widespread condemnation.