Two rightwing Hindu leaders were murdered in separate incidents sparking communal tension and violence and leading to the imposition of curfew in several districts.
On September 18, Suri, 45, the district secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in Krishnagiri was hacked to death by an armed gang while he travelling in his car at Nehru Nagar.
The four assailants came on bikes and reportedly stabbed him to death.
Three days later, C Sasikumar, 36, a spokesman of the Hindu Munnani political party was killed by an armed gang at Subramaniyampalayam in Coimbatore district. He died of stab wounds.
Both murders sparked public outrage and police stepped up security.
Hindu Munnani state president Subramaniam said that such brutal killings showed the failure of police administration.
The VHP and Hindu Munnani are rightwing Hindu organisations with affinity to India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
800 medical seats added to TN colleges
The Medical Council of India (MCI) has added 800 medical seats to the existing quota in seven self-financing medical colleges in Tamil Nadu.
Candidates appearing for single window counselling in this session need clear the National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET).
The seven colleges are Sree Moogambikai Institute of Medical Sciences, Kanyakumari; Madha Medical College, Kundrathur; Karpagam Faculty of Medical Science and Research, Coimbatore; Dhanalakshmi Sreenivasan Medical College, Perambalur; Ponnayan Ramanujam Institute of Medical Science and Annai Medical College Hospital and Research Centre in Sriperumbudur and Melmaruvathur Adi Parasakthi Medical College in Melmaruvathur.
Visaranai chosen for Oscar entry
Tamil film Visaranai has been chosen as India’s 2017 entry for Oscar Awards in the foreign film language category.
The film is a dramatised version of Tamil novel, Lock Up, by auto-ricksshaw driver Chandrakumar. The plot is about three Tamil immigrants who are arrested for a crime they did not commit. They are also forced to confess to the crime after a fortnight’s police torture.
Visaranai is directed by Vetrimaran, produced by film actor Dhanush and has a newcomer cast. In 2015, Visaranai became the first Tamil movie to be premiered in the Orrizonti (Horizons) section of the 72nd Venice Film Festival, where it won the Amnesty International Italia Award. It also bagged Cinema for Human Rights’ award at the festival.
Brazilian arrested on drugs charge
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested a Brazilian for carrying 3.64kg of cocaine from his hotel room near the Chennai airport.
Acting on a tipoff, the NCB recovered the haul stuffed inside four notebooks and children’s story books. Jailson Manoel Di Silva, 43, confessed that he had brought the consignment from Rio de Janeiro to Chennai via Dubai. He said that he was a conduit. The NCB is investigating who his suppliers and receivers were.
Fire at LIC building
A fire broke out on the second floor of the Life Insurance Corp (LIC) building, at Anna Salai in Chennai, damaging office equipment and files.
It took 25 fire fighters two hours to extinguish the fire. Police suspect that an electrical short circuit caused the blaze.
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