By Umaima Shafiq
Engineer, associates arrested for robbery
In a disturbing trend, college graduates are taking to robbery and chain snatching in the suburbs of Chennai.
Last week police arrested Bharath Kumar, an engineer working in a private firm, with the help of an identity card that he had left at the home of a woman he had robbed at Mogappair.
He admitted to robbing several women when they were alone at home in the mornings.
Police also arrested his associates and recovered gold they had stolen from homes in Nolambur, J J Nagar, Thirumangalam and Anna Nagar. The gang used bikes for quick escapes and sold the loot to a goldsmith.
In a separate incident, a 65-year-old bank manager’s house was burgled by a gang of thieves who stole 60 sovereigns of gold, Rs100,000 and silver ornaments at Nanganallur in Chennai. Police were astonished that the family slept even as the robbers daringly entered through a ventilator and ransacked cupboards in the house.
Court rejects bail pleas of Maran aides
A special court in Chennai dismissed the bail pleas of three aides of former federal telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran who were arrested in an illegal telephone exchange case last week.
Police arrested Maran’s chief secretary Gowthaman, 50, and two employees of his Sun TV cable company - S Kannan and K S Ravi. The three had reportedly set up a 323-line high-speed Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) at Maran’s Boat Club residence in Chennai when he was the telecom minister. This service was used by Sun TV for transmission purposes.
The court overruled the defence counsel’s plea of their innocence saying that there was technical proof of their guilt. The court also said that the trio could tamper with evidence if bailed.
Threat to blow up theatre
Security was stepped up last week at the popular Udhayam Theatres in Chennai after it received a letter threatening to blow up the cinema against the February 5 release of actor Ajith Kumar’s Tamil film Yennai Arindhal.
Bomb disposal squads searched the theatre and said it was a hoax. Police also said no other theatre had received such threats and suspect it could be somebody’s personal grouse.
Two days later, classes were suspended at Loyola College on Sterling Road due after receiving a letter threatening a bomb the institution. However this too proved to be a hoax.
Soldier kills wife, her parents
A soldier and his siblings have been arrested for murdering his wife and her family at Sedapatti in suburban Madurai last week.
Kamalakannan reportedly shot his wife, her parents and two siblings while they were waiting to catch a bus. He also attacked them with sickles. Though he escaped, Kamalakannan was arrested based on eyewitness accounts.
Police learnt that he was estranged from his wife for some years and had been paying her alimony. However he became angry because she kept writing complaints to his seniors.
Petrol dealers stage strike
Over 4,800 retail petrol stations of the Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association struck work on January 31 to highlight business losses.
The association did not purchase fuel from any of the three public sector oil companies on that day. They complained of inventory loss incurred during the recent fuel price cuts. They also protested the federal government’s imposition of fines on petrol bunks that did not have toilet facilities.
However the strike did not affect consumers because the bunks were stocked for two days.
