Police arrest 12 for attack on Indian newspaper office

INDIA: Police have arrested 12 people in connection with a firebomb attack on a newspaper’s office in southern India that left three people dead, a top official said.

The petrol bombs were thrown into the office of the Tamil-language Dinakaran newspaper on Wednesday during an angry protest by dozens of people in Madurai, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state.

Two computer engineers died from smoke inhalation during the ensuing fire, while another security guard died later in hospital, Police Commissioner A. Subramaniam said Thursday.

The demonstrators were protesting an opinion poll published by the daily showing little public support for M.K. Azhagiri to succeed his father, M. Karunanidhi, Tamil Nadu’s charismatic chief minister. The poll favored younger brother, M. K. Stalin, for the job.

Karunanidhi told the state legislature Thursday that 12 people have been arrested on varying charges including murder, attempted murder, arson and unlawful assembly.

Another 88 people were being question by police for suspected involvement in Wednesday’s attack, he said.

Karunanidhi also said the federal investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, would launch their own investigation as the issue involved his family.

“A probe by the state police may not be sufficient,” he said.

Azhagiri holds no official position but has considerable influence in Tamil Nadu and within his father’s party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam.

However, according to the newspaper poll, the vast majority of voters would support Azhagiri’s younger brother, Stalin, a senior minister in the state government who has long been seen as the anointed heir of his aging father.

Karunanidhi, a former screenwriter who is rarely seen without his trademark dark glasses and flowing yellow scarf, is considered a monumental figure in Tamil Nadu politics and it’s widely believed that one of his sons will succeed him.

Dinakaran is a part of the Sun media group, owned by a relative of Karunanidhi.

Chennai, Friday, AP