Tamil Nadu: 5 men including VHP member booked for attacking, demanding money from Tirupur shopkeeper

Tirupur:  Five men including a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) member have been booked for attacking a shopkeeper and demanding money from him to install a statue of Lord Krishna in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu.

According to the police, the VHP celebrates Krishna Jayanthi by installing an idol of Lord Krishna in Muthalipalayam area near SIDCO in Tirupur every year. The members of the VHP were in the process of raising funds to celebrate the festival.

The police said that incident happened around 2 pm on Sunday (August 18). “The group (including the VHP member and his friends) had collected money from an electrical shop owned by Siva. When Siva donated Rs 300, the group demanded that he give Rs 1,000. As Siva refused to pay anything more than what he had given, the group attacked him and issued death threats.”

Meanwhile, the CCTV footage of the group intimidating and hitting the shopkeeper is going viral on social media. The accused have been identified as Vasanth (the VHP functionary), Vignesh, Nisaar Ali, Ranjith and Ayyasamy and are being investigated.