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Madurai: Three employees of a leading newspaper were killed here in a vicious mob attack yesterday triggered by a survey that said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's younger son M.K. Stalin was more popular than the elder son M.K. Azhagiri.
The incident sparked off arson across the state's southern districts.
Heir
Azhagiri's furious supporters stormed the office of Dinakaran newspaper following the publication of a survey stating said that 70 per cent of people in Tamil Nadu considered Stalin, now the local self-government minister, to be the political heir to the ageing Karunanidhi.
Within hours, the violence spread all over Madurai and in neighbouring areas, with highways shut down and public vehicles attacked in the gory expression of sibling rivalry in Tamil Nadu's first family.
The first two victims of the violence were both computer operators in Dinakaran, owned by the Sun Group of Kalanidhi Maran, elder brother of India's Telecommunications Minister Dayanidhi Maran.
A watchman on duty also lost his life in the attack. Dinakaran's Madurai office staff alleged that the police, which arrived on the scene around noon, were mere onlookers and did not come to their aid.
Petrol bombs
Armed gangs roamed the streets of Madurai, where Azhagiri is based, throwing petrol bombs, smashing windows of buildings, burnings piles of the newspaper and shouting slogans hailing Azhagiri.
Several groups staged roadblocks and protests throughout the day.
The newspaper employees were furious. "Our colleagues have died. We will sit here as long as we do not get justice. Beat us and kill us too," said one of them to policemen and the district collector who wanted them to disperse from their premises.
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