A few cadres of the Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam (DVK) were arrested yesterday in Chennai after they indulged in cutting off the poonool (sacred thread) worn by orthodox Brahmins around their shoulders.

Some cadres, who were on bikes, interrupted members of a particular community (read: Brahmins) and cut off their Poonool before leaving the place. Their identities, however, were captured by CCTV surveillance cameras which the Triplicane police used in tracing down the cadres.

Sources said that 8 DVK cadres attacked 15 Brahmins to cut off their Poonool, apparently as a ‘tit-for-tat’ activity in response to BJP general secretary H. Raja’s Facebook posting urging party cadres to destroy statues of EVR Periyar across the State similar to the destruction of Lenin’s statue in Tripura where the BJP has just won a two-thirds majority over the Communists who had been ruling for 20 years.

The arrested were identified as Ravanan, Umapathy, Rajesh and Prabhakar. All of them were clad in black T-shirts bearing Periyar’s image.