Five people were killed and six injured in a blast at a stone quarry at Mathur village at Chengalpattu in Kanchipuram district last week. Police said a bomb had detonated earlier than programmed due to lightning in the area. The injured were rushed to hospital, while the victims bodies were handed over to their families.

AIADMK plans to contest by-polls

Opposition AIADMK party leader Jayaram Jayalalithaa has announced that her party will contest the by-polls in Tiruchendur and Vandavasi constituencies to be conducted on December 19. The two constituencies fell vacant after Vandavasi MLA S P Jayaraman died and Anitha Radhakrishnan, the Tiruchendur MLA defected to the ruling DMK party. Jayalalithaa had earlier boycotted the August 18 by-polls to five constituencies after accusing the ruling DMK party of rigging and malpractices.

Noted eye surgeon  Agarwal dies at 79

Ophthalmologist Dr J Agarwal died in Chennai on November 15. He was 79.  According to his wishes, his eyes were donated to two patients soon after his death. The surgery was done by his son Dr Amar Agarwal and his daughter-in-law Athiya. Dr Agarwal was born in Uttar Pradesh in 1930 and came to Chennai with his wife Dr T Agarwal in 1957. The couple started a hospital on Cathedral Road, which is today a leading centre for eye surgeries, transplants and other treatments. The hospital has 30 branches in India employing 1,500 staff with thousands of patients getting free or subsidised treatment.

Student stages kidnap drama

A school student staged a kidnap drama after his father scolded him for breaking the TV remote at their home in MKB Nagar, Chennai. Suresh Kumar, 16, left home and boarded a suburban train to Tiruttani. He borrowed a mobile phone from a passenger and made a ransom call to his father demanding Rs100mn. His worried father called the police who traced the phone to its owner and tracked Suresh’s whereabouts to the Chennai Central station. He was let off with a warning.

Fake radioactive warning on ship

Tension prevailed after an anonymous phone call claimed that a ship from Malta, docked at the Chennai harbour, had radioactive materials on board. The ship, M V Garland, was cordoned off and a massive search operation conducted. However the ship was found to contain only granite blocks. It had earlier docked at Vishakapatnam and New Mangalore to unload granite. Though the phone call was suspected to be hoax, security guards claimed it could have been a mock drill.

CBI conducts  raids on colleges

The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) raided five engineering college premises affiliated to trusts. The Sun College (Nagercoil), PMR College (Adayalampattu), VKK Vijayan college (Erungattukottai), JA institute in Koyambedu and Padmavathi College in Dharmapuri were sealed over alleged malpractises. The colleges were accused of land encroachment, inadequate faculty and infrastructure and bribing AICTE officials to get accreditation.

Actor couple’s marriage ends

National award winning Tamil actor Prakash Raj and his wife Lalithakumari divorced at a family court in Chennai last week. The couple were married for 15 years and have two daughters. Prakash Raj has acted in hundreds of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films as a comedian, villain and character artiste. Lalithakumari has done cameo roles in many films but retired after marriage. She is the younger sister of Disco Shanti, a popular film vamp in the 1980’s.

Woman gives birth at railway platform

A 22-year-old woman delivered a baby boy at the suburban Moore Market railway station in Chennai last week. Reports said Sudha Shanti from Sulurpet, had come to get admitted at the government hospital in Triplicane, but went into labour as she got down from the train. Railway staff assisted with the birth and she was rushed to hospital for post-natal care.