RSS leader attack not linked to other assault incident
Binoy Valsan, TNN Nov 8, 2012, 03.55AM IST
COIMBATORE: When an RSS functionary was attacked in Mettupalayam on Tuesday evening, reports linked the incident to some youth assaulting a 61-year-old woman and her grandson the previous day. But all the parties involved in the Monday incident have cleared that it was just a neighbourhood brawl and unlikely to have provoked the assault on the RSS leader.
A long-standing issue between two groups of youth in SM Nagar in Mettupalayam over reckless riding of motorcycles in the locality turned into a full fledged-brawl on Monday evening. A 61-year-old woman who intervened to protect her grandson was also heckled, which reportedly led to a flare-up in the locality. When a senior RSS functionary was assaulted in Mettupalayam, some people in the area linked both incidents.
However, family members of the woman and the injured RSS functionary presently recuperating at Mettupalayam Government Hospital and a private medical facility in Coimbatore city respectively categorically told TOI that both incidents were not directly linked. "My grandson (Abu Tahir) and some other boys in the locality had quarrelled over riding bikes in the locality. I do not know much about the issue but on Monday when they stopped us and started hitting him, I tried to prevent them and I too was pushed around," said N Nabeesa, who was admitted to the hospital soon after. She is expected to be discharged on Thursday.
Tahir and his friend, S Mohammed Tayyub of S M Nagar, had issues with a group of youths from the nearby Kodalur Mariamman Koil colony. Religious groups are present in both localities and getting affiliated to any of these outfits is a natural way of life in the area. "The accused youth involved in the brawl with Tahir and also with his friend Tayyub are from the same locality and are known to all of us for a long time," said Abdul Nazir, Tahir's father.
Both Tahir and Tayyub filed separate FIRs against eight of them and subsequently G Krishna Kumar (24), R Arun Kumar (23), M Ananth (23), and P Santosh surrendered at the police station and were placed under remand. Four others, Paneerselvam, Mayilsamy, Krishnan and Manoj, are absconding. All these youth are associated with the local Hindu Munnani unit. "The fight began due to tension between the two groups for riding bikes in a reckless manner in the locality," said P Rajendran, legal counsel for the four arrested youth.
Family members of S Anand, the RSS functionarywho was seriously injured in an assault on Tuesday evening, also claimed that both these incidents were not directly linkedto each other. "It was a minor incident and there is no need for them to target a senior RSS functionary like my brother (Anand) for a minor incident. We suspect some other angle behind the incident," said Pradeep Kumar, Anand's brother. D Satheesh Kumar, chairman, Mettupalayam municipality, also said there were very little chance that both incidents were directly linked to each other.
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