News Special Reports Tamil Nadu

The Curious Case Of ‘Karukka’ Vinoth: A Pawn In DMK’s Toolkit?

October 27, 2023
Vallavaraayan

Karukka Vinoth has been in the news for the past few days for having thrown Molotov cocktails (petrol bombs) at the Tamil Nadu Governor’s residence in Chennai on 25 October 2023.

A YouTube video by political commentator Maridhas throws light on this individual and also questions his alleged connections with the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Here are some points that Maridhas shares in his video.

Karukka Vinoth threw the petrol bombs to protest against the NEET exam. While this can come across as funny, there is something more than meets the eye behind this attack.

The Governor’s residence – Raj Bhavan is located on Sardar Patel Road. On either side of the residence, the nearest landmark or bus stop is about 1-2km away. On one side is the Madhya Kailash temple junction which leads to OMR/Adayar and on the other is the Guindy junction which would lead further to the Chennai-Trichy Highway.

On the other side, the road leads to the Saidapet High Court. The bus stops are located at these points and not anywhere near the Raj Bhavan. There are no shops or big offices in the vicinity and the area is filled with trees as the Guindy National Park and the Anna University, IIT Madras premises. The whole road near the Raj Bhavan does not have pedestrian movement, one can only find vehicular movement since it is one of the arterial roads of the city and the Raj Bhavan junction is an important point. He also shows in his video that the gate and the area near the gate to the residence (Raj Bhavan) is barricaded heavily.

Maridhas in his video rightly points out that there are no TASMAC outlets anywhere nearby. So that brings us to the question – how did a “drunk” Vinoth walk all the way from a liquor shop to the Raj Bhavan that too with Molotov cocktails in hand.

Looking at his appearance, any security officer would have stopped him (since he was allegedly walking) even before he threw the first bottle.

What The CCTV Footage And Visuals Released By TN Police Tells

Amidst the controversy, the Tamil Nadu police released CCTV footages and few pictures of Karukka Vinoth walking all the way to Raj Bhavan with a black plastic bag in hand presumably containing the already made petrol-bombs. Visuals of what seems like a phone camera recording showing police running towards the Karukka Vinoth as he attempts to throw the bomb was also released.

The CCTV footage that was released by the Tamil Nadu Police showed different footages of Karukka Vinoth walking near Hotel Rain Tree, Teynampet, Nandhanam Signal, Nandhanam Arts College, Kalaignar Arch, Saidapet, Saidapet Bridge, Little Mount, LDG Road, Little Mount, Talk Office Road, Saidapet Court.

According to the CCTV footage released by Tamil Nadu Police, Karukka Vinoth can be seen walking near Nandanam Arts College with the black plastic bag at 11:24 AM.

 

He is seen near Kalaignar Arch in Saidapet at 14:14 PM and crosses Saidapet bridge at around 14:16 PM.

 

Map 1

From Map 1, we can see that it takes only half an hour to walk from Nandanam Arts College to Kalaignar Arch. But Karukka Vinoth who was seen at Nandanam Arts College at 11:24 AM is seen at Kalaignar Arch only at 14:14 (2 hours, 50 minutes later).

At 14:26 PM, he is seen at Taluk Office Road but the black plastic bag that he was carrying in his hand is missing.

From Map 2, we can see that it takes around 13 minutes to walk from Kalaignar Arch to Taluk Office Road which matches with Karukka Vinoth being spotted at Taluk Office at 14:26 PM.

Map 2

The following questions arise from the CCTV footage released by Tamil Nadu Police:

1. From where did Karukka Vinoth start his journey?

2. Where was Karukka Vinoth between 11:24 AM and 14:14 PM?

3. How come a history sheeter who was released on bail just a few days ago for a similar offence can walk around like that?

4. The ‘saffron’ colour shirt and blue jeans that he wears looks new. Is this co-incidence or was he ‘given’ a ‘saffron’ coloured shirt to give a certain angle to his act?

5. It seems to show that the police were waiting for Vinoth to stop throwing the bombs before he could be apprehended

6. Who is the man in black t-shirt with a helmet?

7. What is perplexing is that how can someone who is supposedly “drunk” do all this systematically? Why were the police missing at the gate at that instant?

Who Is This Karukka Vinoth?

When digging into the history and background of Karukka Vinoth, we come across an incident involving a Gandhian named Sasi Perumal from Kanyakumari. This person is known to have protested against liquor consumption all his life. He sat on a protest asking the government to close down all TASMAC outlets. During this protest, Sasi Perumal passed away on 31 July 2015.

The news of his death spread like wildfire across Tamil Nadu prompting the then opposition party, the DMK to vow to protest the closure of TASMAC outlets in TN on 10 August that year. DMK-led protests were conducted on this day in several districts across the state and witnessed the participation of many high-profile DMK leaders such as MK Stalin, Kanimozhi, etc. Surprisingly, Kanimozhi made a statement in that protest. She said that TASMAC was responsible for the increasing number of widows in the state and that once DMK comes to power, they will shut down all the TASMAC outlets. Stalin also made similar statements during the protest.

Whether they actioned those promises is a story for another day. But what is interesting is that just a few days before the 10 August protest by the DMK, 46 outlets across the state were razed down or burned down by miscreants. There was an uproar everywhere in the state.
In some of these locations, petrol bombs were thrown and some of the outlets were subjected to arson and this is where Karukka Vinoth’s name pops up.

He threw a petrol bomb at a TASMAC outlet in T Nagar and was arrested for the same. It is this very same Karukka Vinoth who was allegedly heavily “drunk” and threw the petrol bombs.

Maridhas says that at the time of the 2015 protests, it was widely believed that these riots were pre-planned. They did not collide with the death of Sasi Perumal but due to political reasons, there was a need for people to protest against the ruling party. For that reason, Sasi Perumal’s death was used as an excuse. These were some of the doubts that arose during that time. If such a doubt arose, then the authorities would have looked into the people behind it and the prominent faces behind them would have been identified.

Now coming to the next incident involving Karukka Vinoth. In February 2022, the dates for the NEET exam were announced. Just a week or so before that, a petrol bomb was hurled at Kamalalayam, the headquarters of the TNBJP. The news that was reported at that time was that the same Karukka Vinoth who was identified as the perpetrator wanted to protest against NEET – he alleged that the NEET exam was happening only because of the BJP, so he committed the act.

Maridhas explains that around this time, DMK had a huge responsibility – they had promised to do away with the NEET exam and this question was being asked everywhere. To divert people’s attention from this, the said incident was orchestrated. The journalists in the state also played along with the alleged plan.

Coming to the present, on 21 October 2023, Udhayanidhi Stalin launched a campaign to petition the centre to do away with the NEET exam. Maridhas alleges that since the same thing repeated this time, the Raj Bhavan petrol bomb attack was formulated. Karukka Vinoth, missing all these days, comes out of prison and the next day he appears at the Raj Bhavan with the petrol bombs. Maridhas questions whether he was brought out of prison for this task or whether anyone helped him get out of prison to complete this task. These questions do not arise only because of the Raj Bhavan incident but the history of the said person. Maridhas alleges that the centre point of all these incidents has been the DMK and one can question their involvement in all the listed incidents.

Now coming to the aftermath of the Raj Bhavan incident – after Vinoth was arrested, if one observes how the government behaved, Maridhas alleges that one can find a pattern.

Sun News trivialised the incident by claiming that the petrol bomb was hurled outside the premises rather than inside. Maridhas tries to find the logic in this statement by asking, “If someone throws a petrol bomb at your house, you are supposed to say that it fell at your gate or door and not inside your house.” Maridhas alleges that with such a news report, one can smell something fishy going on in the background.
In the same report, Sun News says that the perpetrator had been arrested but the Raj Bhavan X handle claimed that he escaped from the place.

Maridhas points out that the police did not register Raj Bhavan’s complaint as an FIR, instead, they filed a suo moto complaint of vandalism in a simple FIR and remanded the perpetrator to custody, and presented before a magistrate late evening and remanded him to jail.

This attack on Raj Bhavan is being trivialized by many saying that it it is just a “petrol bomb”, it did not go inside the Raj Bhavan and what not!

There seems to be a larger conspiracy behind this entire episode. Hence, only an investigation by a national security agency like the National Investigation Agency (NIA) can bring out what the Dravidian Model government is trying to hide.

(Vallavaraayan is a political commentator)

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