Modi inaugurates Kalam memorial

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a memorial for late president and rocket scientist A P J Abdul Kalam at the latter’s home town in Periakambu near Rameshwaram in coastal Ramanathapuram district. Modi dedicated the memorial to the nation and urged the youth to follow Kalam’s dreams for India’s scientific, moral, cultural and industrial development. The memorial was built by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to coincide with Kalam’s second death anniversary. Modi also promised better maritime security for fishermen in the coastal districts. Stalin arrested to prevent disruptionDravida Munnetra Kazhagam party working president M K Stalin was arrested for a day at the Coimbatore airport as he was proceeding to Salem. Stalin was on his way to inspect a lake in Edappadi, Salem, that had been cleaned by the DMK cadre. Later he had planned to participate in human chains to urge the abolition of NEET exams for medical admissions in Salem, Erode and Namakkal. The police said the arrest was carried out to prevent law and order disruption due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Rameshwaram district the same day. Two jewellery shops burgledPolice are on the lookout for burglars who stole over 80 sovereigns of gold and 2kgs of silver from two adjacent shops near the Meenakshi Amman temple, in Madurai.The shops were located inside a shopping complex. Police suspect the robbers broke open the gate and rolled up the shops’ shutters to squeeze themselves in. They stole the jewels from country made iron safes and escaped. Unfortunately the shops did not have surveillance cameras or security guards and the raid took place at night during the weekend holiday.  Police are scanning fingerprints, footage from neighbourhood surveillance cameras and other evidence. In a separate incident, the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) seized 28 kilos of smuggled gold from seven people during vehicle checks at Coimbatore and Ramanathapuram districts Acting on a tip-off, the DRI found the gang had smuggled gold from Sri Lankan through the Ucchipuli coast of Ramanathapuram and split it up between conduits to be ‘distributed’ in other districts.Youth arrested for faking kidnapA 21-year-old man was arrested for staging his own kidnap to extort money from his father in Coonoor. Nithin Sharma left home and made a ‘ransom’ call to his businessman father demanding Rs1mn. He also ordered an initial amount of Rs50,000 transferred to his bank account. His father complied and Nithin withdrew it the amount immediately from an ATM. However,  the cash withdrawal also alerted the police and they traced Nithin’s mobile phone and located him in Erode. Nithin confessed to the crime.Five busted for bus pass scamFive employees of the government-owned Metropolitan Bus Transport (MTC) were arrested for selling bogus bus passes and siphoning off the money to their personal accounts in Chennai. The matter came to light when a ticket inspector found that the Rs1,000 a month ‘travel as you please’ pass of one passenger was slightly different from the laminated certified version. He managed to collect 25 similar fakes and alerted his superiors. The five accused confessed to having earned Rs100,000 every month from the racket for the past two years.