Tirupur: More than 36 Hindu Munnani members were booked for attacking the house of a Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) functionary at SV Pudur in Mudhalipalayam here in the early hours of Monday following a dispute over collecting donations for festivals such as Krishna Jayanthi and Ganesh Chaturthi.

According to police, the Hindu Munnani members attacked VHP functionary N Vasanth’s house at 1am on Monday when his mother, wife and two-month-old baby were sleeping and threatened to set the house on fire, if the latter didn’t come out of the house. They also damaged the gate of the house and a CCTV camera. At the time of the incident, Vasanth was not home.

His mother N Thangapushbam lodged a complaint with the Uthukuli police and submitted a CCTV footage, which shows five people attacking the house, as evidence. Subsequently, more than 36 Hindu Munnani members, including ‘B Tex’ Bhaskar, Chandrasekar, Dinesh Devar, Rajasekar, Pavan Raj and Anand, were booked under various sections, including 147, 427 and 506(1), of the Indian Penal Code.

A police officer said Vasanth, 36, was among the four VHP members, who were booked for attacking a shopkeeper at Mudhalipalayam on Sunday afternoon after he refused to donate money for Krishna Jayanthi celebrations. “There has been a rivalry between the Hindu Munnani and VHP workers over collecting donations. We also came to know Vasanth and his accomplices had attacked Hindu Munnani member Rajaguru the same day.”

When contacted, J S Kishore Kumar, state Hindu Munnani general secretary, said, “Since an extortion case was booked against Vasanth and his accomplices, a false case is foisted on our cadres to divert the ‘real’ issue. Our party member Rajaguru was attacked by Vasanth’s accomplices is undergoing treatment at the Tirupur government hospital.”

The VHP, meanwhile, expelled Vasanth for involving in ‘anti-social’ and ‘anti-Hindu’ activities. VHP south TN secretary Rama Sathyamurthy said Vasanth was removed from the post of Tirupur suburban (Palladam) district secretary.

Opposition parties, including the DMK, Congress, CPI, CPM, AMMK, MDMK, VCK and the TMC, held a meeting in Mudhalipalayam panchayat on Tuesday and condemned the act of Vasanth and his accomplices.

“The VHP cadres had earlier too extorted money from the trades and shopkeepers in Mudhalipalayam in the name of conducting festivals. There should be an end to this. Police should take stern action against the accused immediately,” said P Viswalingasamy, a DMK functionary.

