Three employees of the Tamil-language daily Dinakaran were killed in an attack on the newspaper’s offices in Madurai, in the eastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The victims were identified as computer engineers M. Vinod Kumar and G. Gopinath and security guard K. Muthuranalingam, according to the news Web site New Kerala.
The employees died of asphyxiation after demonstrators threw firebombs into offices housing Dinakaran, Sun TV, and other media outlets, according to The Associated Press. The protesters were angry with an opinion poll published by Dinakaran that indicated public support for M.K. Stalin’s bid for election as chief minister of Tamil Nadu, a post then held by Stalin’s father, M. Karunanidhi. Stalin’s chief political rival was his elder brother, M.K. Azhagiri.