Raj Bhavan faults cops, Minister hits back

CHENNAI: The fire triggered by a petrol bomb hurled at the Raj Bhavan gate on Wednesday grew into a blazing war of words between the Governor and the government on Thursday, with the Raj Bhavan charging the State police with diluting the attack as mere vandalism and alleged a fair probe was ‘killed’ even before it began while the DMK accused the Governor of spreading hatred against its government.

Earlier in the day, city Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore met Governor RN Ravi for over 30 minutes and briefed him about the incident and steps taken by the police. However, this could not douse the tensions, as Raj Bhavan issued a statement raising a series of allegations within hours of the meeting.

“Police did not register Raj Bhavan complaint on attack… diluted the attack as an act of simple vandalism and in a hurry got arrested and remanded the accused to jail at midnight waking up the magistrate and prevented detailed interrogation which could expose those behind the attack. Fair investigation is killed before it began,” the Raj Bhavan said in a social media post.

Reacting to this, Law Minister S Regupathy said the accused history-sheeter Vinod alias ‘Karukka’ Vinod, who was arrested at least thrice in similar cases – including for hurling petrol bombs on State BJP HQ – was brought out on bail by a BJP functionary. “An advocate in the BJP himself secured bail for Vinod, who attacked the BJP office, creating another suspicion. The State police have intensified its investigation in that angle, too,” he said.

Source said Vinod was brought out on bail by P Muthamizh Selvakumar, who was an office-bearer of the BJP’s Tiruvarur unit, in connection with the case (crime no 29 of 2022) filed in R-1, Mambalam police station.

Questioning the intention behind Raj Bhavan finding fault with the police for sending the accused in remand, senior advocate and DMK’s Rajya Sabha member P Wilson said, “An arrested person must be remanded within 24 hours, which the police have done. Governor Ravi has been a cop himself. Doesn’t he know that? Once a magisterial order for remand is issued, how can he blame the investigating agency? Is the Governor blaming the judiciary?”

Meanwhile, the State police said in a statement later in the day that the allegation in the complaint of the Governor’s deputy secretary that the police did not take any action in connection with the attack on Ravi’s vehicle in Mayiladuthurai on April 19, 2022, was not true. As many as 73 people were arrested in this connection, the police said.

Sources claimed that the city police were not able to install CCTV cameras at the Raj Bhavan main gate because of the resistance and unwillingness on the part of the Raj Bhavan officials citing privacy issues. Officials said they do not know whether there are any cameras inside the campus, as the police do not have access beyond the gates.

No security lapse, say city police

Senior officers from the Greater Chennai City police also explained that there was no lapse in security, “The suspect Vinod was secured within minutes after the incident. Security has been beefed up outside the main entrance by adding an additional strength of 15 police personnel,” said an officer.

According to sources, the history-sheeter was arrested immediately because of the alertness of the personnel deployed in front of Raj Bhavan. Vinod had filled bottles with petrol from a bunk near his house in Teynampet. “We checked his movements from the morning on Wednesday and found him walking towards Raj Bhavan after filling petrol in the bottles near his house in Teynampet,” said an official source. The state police HQ credited head constable Mohan and armed reserve police constables Sivanu and Ajith for chasing and nabbing Vinod and recovering the remaining petrol bombs from him.