The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has chargesheeted
13 people in the Villianur (Puducherry) bomb blast case involving the assassination
of a BJP functionary in a brutal attack.
Six motorcycle-borne assailants had on March 26 hurled country made bombs at
Senthil Kumaran in front of a bakery located at Villianur in the Puducherry union
territory.
The accused then attacked the victim with machetes, killing him on the spot.
The local police had initially registered a case, which was handed over to NIA
and re-registered on April 29.
The key conspirator in the case, Nithyanandam, was later arrested, along with
his associates, identified as Vignesh, Siva Sankar, Raja, Pradap, Karthikeyan,
Vengatesh, Rajamani, Ezhumalai, Kathirvel, Ramachandiran, Lakshmanan,
Dhilipan and Ramanathan.
All of them, except Ramanathan, have been chargesheeted last evening by
the NIA under various sections of IPC, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act
and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
As per the NIA investigations in the case, the conspiracy to attack Senthil
Kumaran was masterminded by Nithiyanantham with the aim to strike terror
among the local people in Villianur and surrounding areas.
In furtherance of the conspiracy, Nithiyanantham had formed a terrorist gang
to fabricate country-made explosives and had also organised the machetes
to commit the brutal attack.
As part of the conspiracy, Nithiyanantham had sent Kathirvel to conduct
surveillance on Senthil Kumaran in Villianur. After Senthil’s presence in
the area was confirmed, the main accused sent the six assailants,
Vignesh, Siva Sankar, Raja, Pradeep, Karthikeyan and Vengatesh, on
three motorcycles to carry out the assassination.
After the fatal attack, the accused had hidden the vehicles and blood
stained machetes used in the assassination, along with their blood
stained clothes.
Recovery of these items was made during investigations, on the basis
of their disclosures, a NIA release said.
