Robert Payas, a convict in the May 1991 killing of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, has appealed for mercy killing to the Puzhal prison management in Chennai.
Payas, a Sri Lankan Tamil, reportedly joined the murder plot because his child had died due to atrocities of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in his country. His petition stated that despite serving nearly 26 years in prison his release along with seven others had been stalled by a recent Supreme Court order. He requested the prison authorities to carry out a mercy killing or permit him to commit suicide. 
A senior police officer said, “We cannot take any decision based on his letter. We have forwarded it to the state home department through the director general of police’s office and will wait for a court verdict.”


Five held over
journalist’s
kidnap, murder

Five people have been arrested over the kidnap and murder of Kathiravan, 36, a journalist working for a Tamil daily.
Kathiravan’s body had been thrown into a ravine at Minjur. Acting on a complaint by Kathiravan’s wife Amutha, police checked the surveillance cameras on all arterial roads of Chintaripet, where the couple lived with their three children. They soon spotted the car in which Kathiravan had been kidnapped and identified a youth getting out of it. The youth, Suresh, led the police to the other accused.
The mastermind Yousuf, who was Kathiravan’s brother-in-law, later confessed he had got angry after Kathiravan flirted with his wife. Police recovered Kathiravan’s blood stained body from Minjur. Investigations are underway.


Six injured
in boiler blast

Six people were injured when a boiler exploded at a private-owned rice mill in Alangudi town in Pudukottai district. The injured were admitted to the local government hospital, except Marimuthu who sustained a head injury and was taken to nearby Tiruchi. In a separate incident, nearly 49 passengers escaped unhurt, when a government bus they were travelling in caught fire at Acharapakkam in suburban Chennai.
Police praised the alertness of the driver and conductor who evacuated the bus immediately after they saw the engine smoking. A probe is on into the maintenance of machines in both cases.


Hospital helps 
save infants’ lives

The privately-owned multi-speciality MIOT hospital in Chennai recently performed two liver transplant surgeries on infants from abroad.
Two-year-old Grace Kiarah Cheryl from Sri Lanka, had undergone a corrective surgery in her country for biliary atresia, or poorly developed bile ducts. However, her condition had worsened.  At MIOT, doctors performed a liver transplant using a small portion of her mother’s liver and used a ‘patch’ technique to enlarge her blood vessels.
In another case, a similar surgery was done on six-month-old boy, Ahmed Hafidh, from Zanzibar in Tanzania. Hafidh suffered from damaged bile ducts and liver. Doctors said both babies had recovered well.


Hundreds held for
pipeline protest

As many as 200 people were arrested for protesting the laying of crude oil pipelines on the Ennore Express highway at Tiruvottiyur in north Chennai.
The protesters claimed the 17km pipeline - to be laid by Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) from Chennai port to CPCL - would affect the livelihood of fishermen, the rich marine life and pollute the environment. The arrested group were later released after a warning from the authorities.

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