Police are on the lookout for the trustees of a private orphanage who abandoned 33 children fearing legal trouble in Kanyakumari.

The children from the 30-year-old old Sarojini New Life Centre were brought in a car and left on the WCC road. They showed physical bruises caused by hot iron, beatings and starvation. Police sent them back to their guardians in Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram and other districts. The matter came to light when neighbours informed the police about the children’s plight.

The district administration has sealed the orphanage and also inspected several others for similar discrepancies. Kanyakumari has 88 orphanages of which only one is government owned, the others are run by private trusts.

Meanwhile, ten boys including a murder accused, escaped from a juvenile remand home at Kellys in Chennai. One of the boys hit a warden with a tube light injuring his hands and the others escaped in the confusion. Police have launched a manhunt.

 

Bank issues notice to Rajini’s wife over loan

The Chennai branch of Export Import Bank of India has issued a notice to Tamil film star Rajinikanth’s wife Latha over non-payment of loans taken for his previous film Kochadaiyaan.

Latha reportedly stood guarantor for a loan issued to Mediaone Global Entertainment, who were co-producers of the film. She had been asked to pay Rs220mn in July 2014. The bank has also taken possession of Latha’s property in Kanchipuram.

A Mediaone spokesman said, “We have been negotiating with the banks from December and will pay before March 31, 2015.”

Kochadaiyaan produced by Rajini’s daughter Saundarya, was delayed for three years and bombed at the box office because the fans were disappointed by an animated portrayal of their icon.

 

Five killed in Salem road crash

Five people were killed and six injured when a Salem-bound lorry collided with a bus and a scooter at Sandhiyur on the Tiruchi-Namakkal highway last week.

The lorry driver reportedly jumped a median hitting the bus and smashing its front portion. The scooter rider was caught between the two vehicles and dragged for some distance.

In another incident, a lorry driver was killed and six others injured when his vehicle rammed into a government bus on the Tiruchi-Pudukottai highway.

Kumaresan was overtaking another truck when a bus coming in the opposite direction swerved and hit a nearby wall injuring its passengers.

Police blamed the lorry drivers for not taking sleep breaks and driving continuously.

 

Storyteller dies aged 83

Popular Tamil dramatist and master storyteller Koothapiran alias Nagapattinam Vittal Iyer Natarajan died of heart attack in Hyderabad last week.

He was 83 and is survived by wife and two sons.

Born at Chidambaram in coastal Cuddalore district, Koothapiran adopted his pen name on his wife’s advice. He moved to Chennai in 1947 and trained as a theatre artiste. He joined the All India Radio and began conducting children’s programmes. He soon co-ordinated Siruvar Solai, a popular storytelling session that was aired for three decades earning him the nickname of Vannoli Anna.

Besides this he has authored 20 children’s books and novels and acted in about 6,500 plays. His funeral was held in Chennai.