JEYALALITHA JEYARAM THINKS HUGE EXPLOSION NEAR CHENNAI WAS TERRORIST RELATED AND MORE LTTE TERRORISTS ARE TRACED AFTER THE EXPLOSION

By Walter Jayawardhana

Tamil Nadu Opposition leader Jeyalitha Jeyaram has called the huge vehicle explosion that caused the deaths of about 28 innocent people and injured about 20 other bystanders “terrorist related.”
Tamil Nadu police apparently under the influence of Chief minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi has not divulged enough facts to explain all about the explosion that happened April 7.

A jeep and a car have been destroyed by the explosion and it was so big forty nearby houses have also been damaged, some reports said . The initial information said curious bystanders who were picking up tramarind pods from the ground beneath the trees growing along the road and gathered round a smoking vehicle which killed them. The vehicle apparently caught fire and ultimately exploded due to the fire spreading to the suspected highly inflammable explosives being transported in the vehicle, the reports said.

Jayalalitha said Karunanidhi should resign or the assembly should be dissolved since Karunanidhi has simply failed to maintain law and order in the State of Tamil Nadu. For Karunanidhi such terrorist related matters are highly sensitive since it was his party’s alleged connections with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bombers who killed Rajiv Gandhi that brought about a dissolution of his last administration by the center in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Suppressing information about the explosion has kept it from catching the headlines in foreign newspapers but the reason for such suppression could be that it is related to a terrorist group, sources said. Indian newspapers are usually self-censored when it comes to foreign policy related matters. Analysts pointed out that it could be one reason why all the information is not coming out of the this big tragic accident near the town of Tindivanam about 200 kilometers from the state capital Chennai. The accident had actually taken place in a village called Cendur, about 10 kilometers from Tindivanam.

Some reports said it was a parked jeep or a car that exploded. The last scenario was some people were trying to douse the fire by throwing sand but the whole vehicle exploded instantly killing the driver and four others on the spot. Many others reportedly died on their way to the hospital or in the hospital.

AIADMK leader Jayalalitha Jeyaram visited the accident scene and announced that her party would release Rs. 25,000 to the families of the dead , and 5000 Rupees to the injured. Political extremist and Tamil Tiger friend S.Ramdoss , State Congress Chief M.Krishnaswamy were some of the other political leaders who visited the scene. Jeyalaitha alleged that a Iraq like bomb culture was spreading in Tamil Nadu and the the police has become toothless since Karunanidhi has packed the police with his favorites. She suggested that the Tamil Nadu administration of the Chief Minister should be dissolved by the central government in new Delhi.

The chain of events also led to the arrest of the of LTTE related suspects in the region. A LTTE suspect from Alaikathavalasai village on the Rameswaram coast was arrested and the police recovered six gelatine sticks, an equal number of detonators and three metres of fuse wire from him.

The intensified police activities in the state of Tamil Nadu also lead its Q Branch or the terrorist investigations unit officials to reach some granite quarries in the neighboring state of kerala as the information also indicated that links of the LTTE was spread to all grante quarries since they were easy supply stations of explosives.

‘‘There are sufficient evidence for us to believe that many granite quarries in Malappuram, Wayanad and Palakkad districts play a significant role in the explosives’ supply chain of LTTE militants,’’ said an official with the Q Branch wing of Tamil Nadu police.