BJP, HMK men slug it out in public

Tirupur: High drama ensued following a face-off between workers of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) in Dharapuram town on Sunday night.A video of the clash that went viral on social media showed BJP’s Tirupur south district president N Ravindran alias Mangalam Ravi, 43, and HMK’s Tirupur south district president C Eswaran, 48, carrying a stick and an iron rod, and accompanied by their supporters, thrashing each other near the Dharapuram Town Bus Stand around 8.30pm.Ravi was treated as an outpatient at Dharapuram Government Hospital. He later lodged a complaint with the Dharapuram police against Eswaran, BJP’s west union youth wing president V Gunasekaran, 31, HMK district organizing committee president A Shankar, 41, Sugumar, Kongu Ramesh and Yogeswaran of Kundadam.The BJP leader said Gunasekaran wanted to remove him from the district president post and had a fight with his supporter D Rajendran, 47, over posting a video about BJP on Facebook 20 days ago. “Gunasekaran and his supporters used to threaten me over the phone. On Sunday evening, I questioned Gunasekaran for threatening Rajendran. Suddenly, Gunasekaran and his supporters attacked me,” he said.Based on Ravi’s complaint, the Dharapuram police registered a case against Gunasekaran and the five people under sections 148, 294 (b), 324 and 506 (ii) of the Indian Penal Code. Police arrested Gunasekaran on Monday and remanded him in judicial custody.Eswaran filed a case against Ravindran and three others. “BJP’s propaganda wing district president Chinnaraj had arranged ‘Mann Ki Baat’ at Kongu Bhavan Mess at Dharapuram on Sunday. Ravi, N Ramesh Ram, 22, a college student, BJP’s youth wing south district secretary Rajendran, 47, and Sathish visited the mess and fought with Chinnaraj for not inviting them to the programme. Ravi and his supporters chased me and Shankar in full public view and attacked us,” he said.Eswaran and Shankar were admitted to the Tirupur Government Medical College Hospital.Based on Eswaran’s complaint, the Dharapuram police registered a case against Ravi and three others under sections 294 (b), 324 and 506 (ii) of the Indian Penal Code and arrested Ramesh and Rajendran on Monday.