Security stepped up at KNPP; anti-N protesters booked

KUDANKULAM: A day after an explosion at a village near Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant here claimed six lives, police formed a team to probe it and stepped up security even as two live bombs were recovered from the area.

A special team would probe the explosion. Two live bombs had been recovered from the site, which have been sent for forensic tests, Tirunelvei SP Vijendra Bidari said.

Top police sources said anti-nuclear activists including SP Uthayakumar, coordinator of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, his associates Pushparayan, Mukilan and some others, have been booked under different sections of IPC and Explosive Substances Act, for the incident.

Cases were registered for offences, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder and criminal conspiracy among others, they added.

A country-made bomb had gone off "accidentally" at around 6.40 PM yesterday when some miscreants were making the explosive in their hut in Idinathakarai Tsunami colony, about 15 km from the KNPP. Among the dead were a woman and three children, all aged below five, while two persons were injured.

Police said the victims' bodies were charred beyond recognition.

Security has been tightened around the nuclear plant. The entire Idinthakarai village has been taken under police control, police said.

Meanwhile, Uthayakumar denied any role in the explosion. "The people of Idinthakarai or members of (anti-nuclear) struggle committee have nothing to do with this explosion. We will cooperate with police and other government officials," he said.

PMANE has been spearheading protests for more than two years against the Indo-Russian joint venture in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district demanding its closure, citing safety concerns following the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011.

Unit-1 had attained criticality on July 13 this year.