NIA chargesheets 13 for BJP functionary's murder in Pondy

CHENNAI: Six months after the murder of a BJP functionary, Senthil Kumaran, at Villianur in Puducherry, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against 13 people. Six bike-borne assailants had hurled country-made bombs at Senthil Kumaran on March 26 this year, before hacking him in front of a bakery in the Villianur.
He died on the spot.The local police registered a case first and then handed it over to the NIA. They registered a fresh case on April 29 and started a probe.
NIA then arrested a key conspirator, Nityanandam, along with his associates identified as Vignesh, Siva Sankar, Raja, Prathap, Karthikeyan, Venkatesh, Rajamani, Ezhumalai, Kathirvel, Ramachandran, Lakshmanan, Dilipan and Ramanathan. "All of them, except Ramanathan, have been chargesheeted by the NIA on Friday under various sections of IPC, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act," a press release from the NIA mentioned.
It said the investigation revealed that the conspiracy to attack Senthil Kumaran was hatched by Nityanandam to strike terror among the locals. He had formed a gang to make country-made explosives and organised the machetes to commit the brutal attack. He then sent the six assailants on three motorcycles to execute the plot.