Hours after Director General of Police J.K. Tripathy held a high-level meeting to review the lingering communal tension in Coimbatore, unidentified persons allegedly assaulted Suryaprakash, 28, a local functionary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at Sundarapuram late on Wednesday.
Sources said that four men barged into a shop run by Mr. Suryaprakash and assaulted him. He suffered injuries on the head and shoulder but his condition was stable.
The police said that special teams were formed to trace the assailants involved in the alleged assault.
Mr. Tripathy held the meeting here on Wednesday evening, which lasted for over two hours, with ADGP Jayanth Murali (Law and Order), Coimbatore City Police Commissioner Sumit Sharan, West Zone IG K. Periaiah and other senior police officers.
The communal tension escalated with the attack on Hindu Munnani’s district secretary Madukarai Anand late on March 4 which was followed by hurling of petrol bomb at a mosque near Ganapthy in the early hours of March 5. At least seven vehicles belonging to Muslim and Hindu organisations were also damaged since March 4. On Tuesday, unidentified men allegedly assaulted Social Democratic Party of India's (SDPI) district secretary Mohammed Iqbal and Hindu Munnani claimed hurling of a petrol bomb at its office in the city.
Meanwhile, O. Vetriselvan, ACP, Special Intelligence Cell, Coimbatore city, was removed from the post on Wednesday, reportedly owing to flaws in intelligence gathering on issues that triggered communal tensions. He was replaced by ACP C. Chandrasekar.
SDPI Tamil Nadu president Nellai Mubarak on Wednesday petitioned Mr. Sharan seeking arrest of assailants who attacked Mr. Iqbal.
He alleged that members of right wing organisations were behind the assaults on Mr. Iqbal.
Meanwhile, Coimbatore Collector K. Rajamani held a peace meeting with leaders of Muslim centric parties and Islamic orgnisations, similar to the one held with leaders of Hindu organisations on Tuesday. The Collector asked both sections to avoid agitations in the coming days.
On Wednesday, Hindu Munnani cancelled a protest it had planned to condemn the alleged hurling of petrol bomb at its office.
