D Indira, the daughter of ex-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam minister I Periyasamy, was arrested along with two relatives for the September 2 murder of a Madurai-based realtor and businessman Jamal Mohamed, last week.

Jamal, 59, was the owner of a 1.67 acre of land at New Jail Road in Madurai that was managed by a trust. Recently, Ganesan and Sithik, who had been caretakers of the trust, became greedy and forced Jamal to transfer the property to them. To gain political support, they also sold some part to Indira and her relatives at undervalued rates. Then the group decided to murder Jamal as he threatened to go to the police.

Ganesan, Sithik and their accomplices kidnapped Jamal on the pretext of a holiday in Kodaikanal and after a drinking binge pushed him off a precipice at a lonely spot. Police found Jamal’s body hanging by his shirt collar from a tree branch on September 9.

Police are also on the lookout for an advocate Mahendra Verma who helped Ganesan, Sithik and Indira to register the land, circumvent legal loopholes and finally murder Jamal. He went underground soon after the sale.

 

Woman caught
for trying to
sell stolen baby

 

A 65-year-old woman was arrested for trying to sell a six-month-old boy baby that police learnt later was stolen from his mother at Kasimedu in Chennai last week.

Selvarani had reportedly befriended Fathima, the baby’s mother who had come to the Marina beach after a domestic quarrel. Selvarani pretended to console Fathima and advised her to freshen up at a public toilet while she looked after the baby. When Fathima left, Selvarani kidnapped the child.

She was caught after her neighbour complained to the police about the baby’s sudden appearance.

 

AIADMK sweeps
local body polls

Proving its popularity once again, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party led by Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa won all 530 seats of the local body polls in Tamil Nadu last week.

This included mayoral posts in Coimbatore, Tuticorin and Tirunelveli, 67 urban local body posts, 20 municipal wards and 27 village leader posts.

Jayalalithaa described the victory as an approval for good governance. However her joy was short-lived as three days later she was convicted and jailed in an 18-year-old corruption case by a Bangalore court.

 

College digitises
religious texts

A private college has digitised 750 historical religious books belonging to the Srirangam Sri Ranganathasamy temple library at Tiruchi.

Situated inside the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple premises, the library has a collection of around 2,000 ancient books on religion and culture written in Tamil, Grantham, Sanskrit, Telugu and English by well-versed scholars.

The process was launched this February with the help of two hi-end face-up scanners procured by the college. College authorities said that it was delicate work as many of the archives had become brittle with age.

 

Policeman held for
prostitution racket

 

A policeman who ran a prostitution ring at rented houses in Madurai was arrested last week.

Balamurugan was caught based on a complaint of a college student who said he was lured by a pimp into visiting one of these houses.