Chennai, Sep 22 (UNI) he National Investigation Agency (NIA) has chargesheeted

13 people in the Villianur (Puducherry) bomb blast case involving the assassination

of a BJP functionary in a brutal attack.

Six motorcycle-borne assailants had on March 26 hurled country made bombs at

Senthil Kumaran in front of a bakery located at Villianur in the Puducherry union

territory.

The accused then attacked the victim with machetes, killing him on the spot.

The local police had initially registered a case, which was handed over to NIA

and re-registered on April 29.

The key conspirator in the case, Nithyanandam, was later arrested, along with

his associates, identified as Vignesh, Siva Sankar, Raja, Pradap, Karthikeyan,

Vengatesh, Rajamani, Ezhumalai, Kathirvel, Ramachandiran, Lakshmanan,

Dhilipan and Ramanathan.

All of them, except Ramanathan, have been chargesheeted last evening by

the NIA under various sections of IPC, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act

and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

As per the NIA investigations in the case, the conspiracy to attack Senthil

Kumaran was masterminded by Nithiyanantham with the aim to strike terror

among the local people in Villianur and surrounding areas.

In furtherance of the conspiracy, Nithiyanantham had formed a terrorist gang

to fabricate country-made explosives and had also organised the machetes

to commit the brutal attack.

As part of the conspiracy, Nithiyanantham had sent Kathirvel to conduct

surveillance on Senthil Kumaran in Villianur. After Senthil’s presence in

the area was confirmed, the main accused sent the six assailants,

Vignesh, Siva Sankar, Raja, Pradeep, Karthikeyan and Vengatesh, on

three motorcycles to carry out the assassination.

After the fatal attack, the accused had hidden the vehicles and blood

stained machetes used in the assassination, along with their blood

stained clothes.

Recovery of these items was made during investigations, on the basis

of their disclosures, a NIA release said.

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