People involved in the anti-nuclear plant agitation protested Tuesday’s blast in the vicinity of the unit, saying the act discredited their “three-year-long” peaceful movement.
“We are ashamed of the incident. It has brought us a bad name. We will help nab the perpetrators of the heinous crime,” a visibly shaken SP Udayakumar, leader of the movement, told Hindustan Times on Thursday.
Seven died in the blast and seven persons, four serious, have admitted in different hospitals. At least five houses were razed.
Though the police had named Udayakumar and a number of anti-nuke leaders in the FIR, later they removed their names after it came to light that a rivalry between two groups led to the bomb manufacturing and subsequent accidental blasts.
The police said bombs went off while miscreants were busy making them.
What has worried the police is that the blast took place in the vicinity of the well-guarded power plant, which started functioning in July.
Kanyakumari superintendent of police S Bidari said his teams were looking at all aspects.
Local resident Peter Milton said: “The area is cordoned off for more than two years. It is a mystery as to how miscreants were making bombs under the nose of the police.”