Mylapore: Two men riding a two wheeler attempted to lob what looked like a petrol bomb into the residence of right-wing ideologue S Gurumurthy early on Sunday. The two persons reportedly belonged to the Thanthai Periyar Dravida Kazhagam and have been detained post questioning by the Mylapore police today.
CCTV videos show the men being driven away by security personnel attached to Gurumurthy. The two men carried a bag and can be seen taking out something from it as they approach the residence. The dogs alerted the security after which the men can be seeing fleeing the area. The attempt to create harm was foiled, according to police sources and images captured by multiple CCTVs in the Mylaopre area in Chennai, where the Thuglaq Editor stays.
Gurumurthy, a veteran journalist and auditor, tweeted late on Sunday that he was safe, and that security issues were part of his life since 1986.
“Lessons for the attackers. One, They must know I have been facing threats for 30 years. Theirs is not new to me. Two, they need better training and more courage,” he tweeted.
The editor added that it was because of the dog that the miscreants were not able to execute their plan.
“As our lifestyle doesn't allow rearing s dog, one of my long-standing friend started sending a dog with its guard everyday between 10pm and 5am. This has been happening for 5 years now. It is that dog that alerted the security and made the miscreants attack impossible,” he said in a tweet.
The attack comes amid the Periyar controversy. Gurumurthy has backed Rajinikanth over the issue and took to Twitter saying that relevant parts of the 1971 edition of Thuglak will be published in the upcoming issue this week.
Rajinikanth had last week told reporters that his speech on Periyar is based on news reports in 1971 and that he will not apologise for his statement. Dravidian outfits have staged protest against the actor. It was during this period that Gurumurthy had tweeted in support on the superstar.