Two arrested for stealing gold chains from train passengers

Two men from Maharashtra were arrested for the April 3 jewellery theft from a train at Thotampatti signal in Dharmapuri district last week.Railway police said the suspects forced the New Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram express train to stop at Thotampatti by tampering with the signal. Sunil Hullaba Bosle and Amar Khale then boarded the train and snatched five gold chains from passengers and fled. They were tracked down with the help of eyewitness accounts and cybercrime evidence. The two men admitted to have committed similar crimes at Katpadi junction last year.In a separate incident, a 47-year-old mechanic from coastal Tuticorin district, was arrested in Chennai for stealing 40 cars in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. The man allegedly stole cars from parking lots by unlocking them with a master key and selling them through agents after changing their number plates and exterior paint. Police identified him though surveillance camera footage. Repair workresumes inR K NagarCivic works that had been suspended due to the April 12 by-election in R K Nagar in Chennai was resumed after the vote was cancelled by the Election Commission last week.The Chennai Corporation began repairs caused by the December 2016 cyclone that had damaged roads, buildings, underground drains and electric poles. The corporation planned to restore 500 parks, 7,600 street lights, 471 pavements and 86 bus shelters at a cost of Rs750mn.Two bridges being built at Manali and Kathivakkam high road and other stalled projects in Chennai would also be resumed. Private companies have been contracted for these repairs.Meanwhile two days after the April 9 cave in of Anna Salai road, another portion of the same road cracked for nearly 10ft causing traffic chaos on the busy intersection. The highways department began inspecting adjacent roads for similar aberrations. Founder bishop of Sivaganga diocese deadReverend Edward D Francis, the founder bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese in Sivaganga district died last week.He was 86. Born in Vellakullam town in Tirunelveli district, Bishop Edward studied at St Paul’s seminary in Madurai and Tiruchi and graduated in 1957. He completed his theological studies in Paris and began as assistant parish priest of Puliyal village in Sivaganga district. He was a priest for 60 years and a bishop for 29 years.During this tenure he also served as general secretary of Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council commission for sacred liturgy (1985-87) and as chairman of TNBC commission for Bible (1987-2005). His funeral was attended by bishops, nuns, priests and church members after a day’s mourning in Sivaganga. Leading sculptorNandagopal diesAward winning sculptor S Nandagopal died of cardiac arrest at his home in Cholamandal Artists’ village in suburban Chennai last week. He was71 and survived by wife and daughter. Nandagopal was born in Bengaluru and graduated in physics from Chennai’s Loyola College. He then studied diploma in fine arts from the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Chennai in 1971. He was a modernist painter, ceramist and metal artist, whose works were popular in India and abroad. He received the Lalit Kala Academy award in 1970 and 1978 and Jindal steel award for sculpture in 2002. He was also appointed adviser to the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi in 1998 and 2000.