Early on May 30, 1999, a low intensity explosion occurred in the Victoria Students’ Hostel at Triplicane in Chennai. Though none was injured in the blast that left a hole in the wall, the incident took place amid escalating intelligence inputs of possible sabotage. It also happened a year after the sensational Coimbatore serial bomb blasts case that left 47 people dead and hundreds of others injured.
Soon after the explosion, the Tamil Nadu police launched a predawn operation by conducting simultaneous searches in major cities across the State. Investigators suspected that explosives could have been planted at major railway stations, bus stands, commercial streets, places of worship and other areas of public gathering.
