Veteran journalist and Jana Sakthi Tamil weekly editor P Veerasamy's house was vandalised early yesterday morning. Also damaged was his daughter's car which was parked in the house compound.

In a police report lodged yesterday evening, Veerasamy said some unknown persons splashed red paint on his daughter's car and on the front portion of his house - the gates, the porch and the door.

tamil mani house attacked splashed with red paint 290409 02 Veerasamy, who is better known by his pen name 'Tamil Mani', said his daughter first discovered the damage caused by the paint after she got ready to leave for work at about 6.30am yesterday.

"We think whoever who did this came sometime after midnight, maybe around three o'clock or four o'clock, as my children were still up watching television at 12.30am," he said.

And he thinks the dirty work could be done by MIC president S Samy Vellu or his son Vell Paari through their henchmen as a result of his latest article in Jana Sakthi which hit the streets early this week.

The article was an open letter penned by Veerasamy to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak urging the latter to sack all MIC representatives in the cabinet.

tamil mani house attacked splashed with red paint 290409 01 He also urged the premier to throw MIC out of Barisan Nasional as the party was besieged with allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

Veerasamy told Malaysiakini that Samy Vellu and his son could have been distressed by the article and the unwanted paint job could be a veiled threat. He said he now feared for his life.

"This is not the first time I have been attacked. In 1988, someone splashed acid on me and I was warded for 28 days.

"And in 1996, after I attended a meeting in Penang, I was slashed by someone and required 118 stitches," he said in his police report, once again alluding to his belief that the attacks came from someone within MIC.

He also said that Jana Sakthi had reported on various misdeeds in MIC and had even lodged reports against Samy Vellu and Vell Paari with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

Vell Paari: Work of a 'desperate man'

When contacted for comment, Vell Paari denied any knowledge of the red paint incident.

janasakthi paper najib and samy vellu 290409 "I don't read Jana Sakthi and I don't know what he has written about my father and me. I just came back from overseas on Monday night.

"But if you say it is about sacking MIC from BN, let me tell you that he has written worse things about our family," he said.

"We have not done anything to him. This looks like a desperate attempt by a person who is an opposition supporter," he added.

He also noted that red paint was usually splashed by moneylenders on the premises of delinquent borrowers.

"So instead of blaming us, he should be looking for those from whom he had borrowed money."

vell paari vellpaari Vell Paari ( left ) said he was not shocked by Veerasamy's writings on Samy Vellu and his family.

"About seven months ago, he was admitted to the heart institute (IJN) for surgery and his family called me for money.

"I then asked for about RM20,000 from my father and deposited this money into his daughter's account. You can ask him about this.

"Even then he was writing bad things about us," he added.

Samy Vellu could not be contacted for comment.