Politicians, Cops In Land Grab Scam

Politicians, cops in land grab scam
Published Date: 6/1/2007  -  (NIE)

SELVARAJ A

Chennai, May 31: Once again, land grabbers are back in operation in the city targeting old and lonely victims in the suburbs after greasing the palms of police and with the blessings of politicians as well. The latest victim is Gomathi, an insurance professional residing in Kalashetra Colony.
On Thursday morning nearly 50 thugs armed with iron rods and sticks entered her compound in a Tata 407 van and began digging the land and constructing a temporary hut. Unable to stop them on her own, she called up the city police control room. ‘‘Only after I called up the city Police Commissioner Letika Saran, the police reached the scene after two hours, by which time the thugs had completed half the temporary hut.

What was even more shocking was that instead of asking us about the incident,the police were busy talking with the grabbers. Only a call to the Assistant Commissioner of Police could stop the work,’’ Gomathi told Express. One of the sisters Muthulakshmi, who tried to prevent the intruders, was injured in the forehead and was admitted to a private hospital, claimed Gomathi.

According to sources, the land was purportedly occupied by a person claiming ownership allegedly with the connivance of a senior police officer and two Assistant Commissioners of police in the city. The whole incident was allegedly scripted by a senior politician, residing in Saidapet.

Three sisters Gomathi, Muthulakshmi and Saroja possess nine grounds of land on Rukmani Street in Kalashetra Colony near Adyar. Of the six houses built within the gated compound, four are rented out, with the family occupying the other two. An open area of two grounds has been left unconstructed. According to Gomathi, the land, originally bought by her grandfather in 1944, passed down to the three sisters after the death of their father a few months ago.

According to police, one Kesavan had given power of attorney to Babu of Teynampet who tried to stake a claim by building a hut. When contacted, Assistant Commissioner of Police Hari (Adyar) said, ‘‘Kesavan has produced some documents for the land and it is purely a civil matter.

Though the documents are with them, the trespassing is an offence. We have detained Babu and six others and booked them under Section 147, 148, 341, 342, 452 (trespassing a house) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Three separate teams have been formed to nab the absconding persons in the case,’’ he pointed out.

Most Riders Comply With Helmet Law

Most riders comply with helmet law
Published Date: 6/2/2007  -  (NIE)

SEKARAN T S, SELVARAJ A

Chennai, June 1: The State Government today described the implementation of the mandatory helmet law, a near success, with over 95 per cent of the twowheeler riders complying with the rule and wearing helmets on the first day.
According to Transport Commissioner C P Singh and Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) K Sunil Kumar, two-wheeler riders in the city responded positively to the G.O. stipulating the rule.

Singh told Express that he had received information that the rule was successful in other cities like Coimbatore, Salem and Tiruchy. The response in Madurai and Tirunelveli was comparatively lesser, Singh said and added that since Friday was the very first day of implementation of the law and the gadgets almost vanished in several shops, the rule enforcing authorities may take a lenient view for a couple of days.

According to Sunil Kumar, a grace period of two days will be given. After that the rule will be strictly enforced and action taken against the violators. He said that about 2,000 traffic police personnel, accompanied by 300 local policemen, were deployed at 300 important junctions in the city. Till 8.30 am, about 50 two-wheeler riders were fined Rs 100 each for violations.

However, this was stopped after 8.30 am as many persons were seen waiting in queues for purchasing helmets, yet. Car drivers and front seat occupants were also told to fasten the seat belts.

Mangoes Seem Dearer Than A Boy's Life

Chennai, June 3: Mangoes seemed to be dearer than a human life for Frank Elias, a 65-year-old retired pilot, as he shot at a 12-year-old boy with an air rifle for trying to pluck mangoes in his garden on Saturday evening.
E Manikandan, son of a security guard, is writhing in pain at the Government Royapettah Hospital, rueing that plucking mangoes had invited a ‘bullet' to his chest.

‘‘I fell down with pain after being shot at and woke up here in the hospital,'' he said as his mother Shanti, a flower seller, recalled with horror how she had fainted on seeing him lying in a pool of blood outside the house of Elias at Raja Srinivasan Nagar in Tiruvanmiyur.

The Class VII student of a Corporation school and resident of Singaravelan Nagar in the same locality had apparently gone out to play with his friends without realising that he would land in hospital.

When policemen from the Tiruvanmiyur station reached Elias's house after receiving a complaint from Manikandan's family, his wife, Jessica, claimed he was away in Andhra Pradesh. However, the police tracked him down to the busy Tiruvanmiyur bus depot by keeping a tab on his mobile phone reception signal.

Admitting to pulling the trigger, Elias allegedly told the police that he was provoked as the boy taunted him by removing his trousers, when questioned about plucking mangoes.

According to police, Elias, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, was an Indian Airlines pilot for 20 years. Subsequently, he was with the Jet Airways and the Air Deccan before retiring last December.

He is now in judicial custody for ‘‘attempt to murder.'' Interestingly, the police, quoting Elias' family members, said he had got the air rifle as a birthday gift from his father 51 years ago. He often used it to shoot at balloons fixed on a board at home.,

Mangoes seem dearer than a boy's life
Published Date: 6/4/2007  -  (NIE)

Serena Josephine M & A Selvaraj

A Choice Of Life And Death

A choice of life and death
Published Date: 6/5/2007  -  (NIE)

T S SEKARAN & A SELVARAJ

Chennai, May 29: Thirty-year-old Rubesh Kumar, a video cameraman, meets with an accident on Kamaraj Salai and sustains head injuries. He dies in hospital on June 3. He was not wearing a helmet.

~ June 2: Venkat (35) of West Mambalam survives an accident near Nerkundram with minor injuries. He was wearing a helmet. ~ June 3: Babu escapes with minor injuries after an accident involving his motorcycle and a bus. He was wearing a helmet. But his wife Ammu alias Balasundari, riding pillion, dies. She was not wearing a helmet.

~ June 3: A two-wheeler hits a road median near Vallavur Kottam. Meenakshisundaram (28) a software professional, the bike rider, hits his head on the road, and dies on the spot. He was not wearing a helmet. His co-rider who was wearing one, survives.

Chennai, June 4: In all these cases, the helmet proved to be the difference between life and death.

‘‘If only Rubesh had been wearing a helmet, his three-year-old child would still have had its father,’’ observed the doctor who had attended on him in a city hospital. It was on Saturday morning, a day after the compulsory helmet rule came into force, that the Chief Minister directed the police not to implement it ‘‘very vigorously.’’

This was a signal enough for the police not to act, and within hours of the announcement, several two-wheeler riders could be seen on the city roads without helmets.

These reporters were witnesses to twowheeler riders whizzing past police patrol vehicles and even RTO offices blissfully without helmets, with no fear of penal action. With the government now ‘clarifying’ that wearing of helmets by women and children riding pillion is optional, top police officials have been wringing their hands.

‘‘We really don’t know what to do. There is no clear course of action. Are we to start booking those who don’t wear helmets, or leave it to their good senses?’’ wondered a senior officer in obvious despair.

Worse still, even policemen, who were the first to fall in line much before the helmet law became mandatory, have stopped using helmets, he said.

CISF Head Constable Mohan Singh's Body Reaches His Village In Rajasthan

Chennai/Jaipur: A pall of gloom descended at the Jahangirpura village in Bharatpur district, Rajasthan since they got the information about one of their villagers – a CISF head constable Mohan Singh – was killed by his colleague at a shoot-out in Kalpakkam Atomic Power Plant barracks on Wednesday.

CISF officials arranged for air-lifting his body from Chennai to Rajasthan. The officials carried his corpse in a coffin by Indigo flight which was scheduled at 6am and then was rescheduled at 10am on Thursday. Mohan Singh’s body was taken to his village, where hundreds of villagers were waiting to receive the corpse outside the Dehara police Chowki since Thursday morning onwards.
At 8.30 pm when the body of Singh reached the village grief was witnessed everywhere from the Nadbai bus stand to Dehara police chowki. “His body will not be taken to home as per rituals bodies are not kept at home during nights. After the rituals the body will be consigned to flames on Friday morning,” said one of his relatives.

Mohan Singh, 55, was a native of Jahangirpura village under Nadbai police station in Bharatpur district of the state. One of his relatives Hukum Singh said, “I saw him during March-April when he had come to organise the marriage of his elder son Anoop Singh who is a farmer. This is the tragic incident.”
Most disturbing thing for the family was that Singh had promised to visit the family this Diwali with boxes of sweets and firecrackers. ““He was to visit the family on this Diwali but it is harsh to know that we have received his body before the festival,” said a relative who was more concerned that the younger son and youngest daughter of the deceased were yet to be married and settled in life on Thursday.

The relatives said the whole family comprising 2 sons, 1 daugther and wife Kamla Devi were informed about the tragedy on Wednesday afternoon. “They are in shock. Perhaps Kamla Devi fainted many a times and doctor was sent to the home,” said Singh.
A senior CISF official said they have granted Rs90,000 for air-lifting Mohan Singh’s body and given Rs55,000 each to Subburaj and Ganesan’s family for their transportation as well as the funeral ceremony. “It is very uncertain incident and an internal inquiry has been ordered to probe about the incident,” the officer said.

Cyber crime wing faces shortage of police personnel

Cyber crime wing faces shortage of personnel
Published Date: 6/8/2007  -  (NIE)

A SELVARAJ

Chennai, June 7: Battling sparse infrastructure, the Cyber Crime Wing police have recovered as many as 80 stolen mobile phones and restored them to the respective owners in the last three months. 
The cyber wing was finding it difficult to cope with the number of complaints of lost or stolen mobile phones on a day-to-day basis as the wing was handicapped by shortage of manpower, computers and a non-cooperating local police, sources said.

Eventhough the cyber wing sleuths pass on the addresses of the culprits, the local police refuse to trace them.

A few cases were traced after ‘‘we managed to send some of our personnel, inspite of the shortage of staff. If we contact them over phone, they get alerted and approach lawyers,'' lamented a middle level police officer in the wing.

A proposal for upgrading the wing had been sent to senior officials for their acceptance. ‘‘We are expecting a positive reply from our senior officials in this regard and more policemen will be posted soon for strengthening the wing,'' a senior police officer in the Commissionerate said.

‘‘Most of them lose their mobiles in hotels, parks or while travelling. Most of the complaints are filed on Mondays,'' a middle level officer in the cyber wing told Express.

‘‘We keep a diary with the list of names, addresses and contact numbers of the victims. We send the details of lost mobiles with their IMEI numbers to the specific service providers. After tracing the address of the culprit, using the IMEI number, the stolen mobiles are traced,'' Dr M Sudhakaran, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Cyber Crime Wing, told Express.

Tale of two stars - Prashanth and Srikanth - their wives

Tale of two stars, their wives
Published Date: 6/16/2007  -  (NIE)

BHAMA DEVI RAVI, A SELVARAJ & PRIYAMVATHA P

Cheenai, June 15: Two young Kollywood heroes - Srikanth and Prasanth - were caught in different wedding rows on Friday.

While Srikanth was in a tight spot with estranged fiancee Vandana releasing evidence of their registered marriage, Prasanth turned the tables on his estranged wife Grihalakshmi by alleging that she had concealed her first marriage with one Narayana Venu Prasad in 1998.


Vandana, whose proposed marriage with Srikanth on June 18 was called off after the media published reports about her brother Harshvardhan Reddy's involvement in land frauds, has been on a dharna at the actor's house in Vadapalani for the past two days.

She allegedly forced herself into the house on Wednesday night.

She released a marriage certificate, issued by a Registrar's office in Kakinada four months ago and also the photographs. The wedding, according to her, was performed without the knowledge of Srikanth's parents and the actor had promised to convince them to accept her at a later date.

However, Srikanth, who had refused to address the media till now on this issue, finally came out in the open at a late evening press conference wherein he admitted to have signed the mar riage papers.

‘‘However, our marriage never consummated. I went in for a register marriage as I loved her and was hopeful of convincing my parents. Soon after we announced our formal wedding date, I learnt that Vandana was jailed for an offence and that the passports of her parents were impounded for their involvement in criminal cases. She turned up at my house two days ago with tough-looking henchmen. I have been forced to abandon my house with my aged parents as I fear for their life. I have sought police protection,'' the actor said adding he would initiate legal action against Vandana.

According to him, he had given ample time for Vandana to prove her innocence and then tie the knot.

However, Vandana insisted that she and her lawyer Jayarani would wait at the actor's house till he returned and accepted her as wife.

Srikanth' father had meanwhile met the Chennai Police Commissioner seeking intervention twice in the last two days.

Elsewhere, Prasanth lodged a complaint with the T Nagar police station urging them to investigate Grihalakshmi's past marriage.

‘‘I learnt of her first marriage two days ago through fans and sources. I am still struggling to come to terms with reality. I do not know anything about Prasad,'' he told Express. He claimed that he had the marriage certificate of Grihalakshmi and Prasad.

According to him, his estranged wife and her parents had levelled dowry harassment charges against him to extract money.

‘‘I have been in the film industry for 17 years with a clean image. There were no scandals surrounding me,'' he added.

However, Grihalakshmi's lawyer Sudha Ramalingam accused Prasanth of levelling false allegations against her. ‘‘She does not know anyone by name Prasad.

She will initiate legal action against the actor for trying to damage her reputation,'' Sudha Ramalingam said.

Chennai Prison Jailer Jayakumar Murder Inside Jail in 1999, Family Comes To Terms With It

Murder in jail: A family comes to terms with it
Published Date: 6/18/2007  -  (NIE)

A SELVARAJ

Chennai, June 17: Eight years is too long a period for events to remain afresh in one's memory.
But Vimala Jayakumar still remembers the events of November 17, 1999. For others in Chennai, the date may not ring a bell, but the mention of the riots inside the Chennai Central Prison will certainly conjure up gory images of blood and death on that fateful day.

‘‘On that day, I was informed that riots had broken out inside the prison and that my husband Jayakumar, who was the Deputy Jailer, was rushed to the nearby Government General Hospital. I reached there only to find his charred body,'' recalls Vimala who has now shifted base to her native place in Sivaganga district.

Jayakumar, trapped inside the records room, was roasted alive when a group of prisoners set fire to the records.

The riots were fuelled by the death of an inmate, ‘Boxer' Vadivelu, due to stomach pain. The prisoners charged that the officials had failed to provide medical care to Vadivelu and clashed with the jailers and wardens early in the morning.

In the police firing that ensued, nine prisoners were killed. Deputy Jailer Jayakumar was charred to death and constable Devarathnam killed.

‘‘For months, I was repeating my tale of woes to officer after officer who came for inquiry. Finally, to help me come out of the trauma and take care of my two children, my parents convinced me to move to our native place,'' Vimala told Express over phone from Sivaganga.

‘‘I am slowly recovering from the trauma. After all, my children have only me to take care of. I am now encouraging them to concentrate on their studies,'' she said. Their daughter has now passed Plus Two and is hoping to get a medical seat.

The police on their part had registered a case against history-sheeter ‘Burma' Seenu and a few other rowdies for instigating the prison riots. ‘‘Seenu was convicted in the case.

But once out of jail, he took up drug trade and was again arrested. Recently, he was injured in a fight with his son-in-law, also a detenu in the Puzhal prison and now undergoing treatment at the Royapettah Government Hospital,'' a police officer said.

‘‘Jayakumar had paid the price for being honest. I was a Jailer in the Vellore prison when the riots took place in Chennai. Jayakumar and I were good friends and batchmates. We both had undergone training together after joining the Prison Department. Today, I miss him badly,'' said a prison official on condition of anonymity.

A senior prison official, who was on duty during the riots, said ‘‘I and a few other officials had a miraculous escape when a mob chased us. After running to safety, we found Jayakumar was missing. By 2 pm we could only get his charred body from the record room.

Chennai Cop chases accused with gun on busy road in the city

Cop chases accused with gun on busy road
Published Date: 6/21/2007  -  (NIE)

A Selvaraj

Chennai, June 20: The motorists on the busy MTH Road at Padi witnessed a scene similar to that of a Kollywood movie on Wednesday as they saw a police officer pulling out his gun and making an attempt to nab a fraudster, who jumped out of a car and escaped.


Acting on a tip-off that unidentified persons were defrauding people claiming that they had discovered treasure in the suburbs, a special team narrowed down on a gold coin treasure fraudsters at Teynampet.

In order to nab them, a senior police officer in ‘mufti’, posed as a customersand accompanied them in their car. When the car was nearing Padi, one of the culprits, who came to know about the decoy, jumped out of the car.

The officer chased the man with a gun, but he managed to escape.

However, the police detained a woman from Madhya Pradesh, an accomplice of the man who had escaped.

The police team attempted to trace the criminals after a person lost lakhs of rupees to a similar gang in Kodungaiyur, a few days ago.

Four murders: No clue since 1993

Four murders: No clue even after 14 yrs
Published Date: 6/25/2007  -  (NIE)

A SELVARAJ

Chennai, June 24: None of their relatives or friends is now here to recall the ghastly murder of a typewriting institute owner and his family at Aminjikarai on a rainy October night in 1993.


Perumal, who ran the institute, was staying in a portion of the same building on Poonamallee High Road with his wife Devika and two children aged 11 and 8. He was an instructor at a private typewriting institute, before starting a new one at Aminjikarai.

The murder came to light when the milkman found the family hacked to death at their house, the next morning. Rumours that the eyes of the children were plucked out, followed.

Even after 14 years of investigation, the mystery behind the murders is yet to be unravelled. Worse, the police station concerned does not even have the complete records of the case.

Officers, who probed the case, claimed that fingerprints, if any, were not trace able because it was raining on the night of the murder.

An officer, who is now an Assistant Commissioner, said that the investigation hit a road block as the probe team was not able to obtain any clue.

Brushing aside rumours of a possible organ trade, he said that the children had sustained injuries on their eyes due to a heavy blow on the back of their head.

According to him, ‘‘The assailants entered the house to rob, but were noticed and confronted by the couple.

The robbers then hit them with iron rods to stop them from raising an alarm.'' A highly-placed source in the Commissionerate said, ‘‘Weeks before the murder, the victim's students witnessed a clash between Perumal and a group of persons from his native village near Vandavasi.''

However, another senior police officer said, ‘‘Initial inquiries revealed that the murders were not committed for gain, but due to previous enmity with some local politicians.

As an investigating officer, I had some doubts regarding the case which could not be clarified till the end of my period.'' He added that there was tremendous pressure from the local politicians to go slow in the investigation.

And there is not even a single tenant in the building or a neighbour who knows about the murder.

All that they know is based on hearsay.

Even the relatives of the murder victims had returned to their native places after the incident.

The Aminjikarai police station does not even have the case record.

Said a middle-level police officer: ‘‘The case diary was entrusted with an Assistant Commissioner of Police, who never returned it.'' None of the police personnel, now at Aminjikarai, know the details of the case.

However, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) is dusting old files, hoping to make some headway in unsolved cases. But no one knows for sure if something concrete will emerge.

Memories

Hi
I am Selvaraj,

I am working as Special Correspondent in the Times of India, Chennai edition. I am happy to publish the stories which I had filed for the leading newspapers...

I cover crime beat - state and city police in Tamil Nadu since 1994. I am a writer, blogger, self-styled artist (in all medium including water colour, oil, pastel etc...), novelist, director (directed four short films), mimicry artist and easy going person. All the opinions published are my personal views and based on chats with people expertise in concerned fields. My native is Vickramasingapuram in Tirunelveli district.

I started my career as a helper in a water tanker body building company in SIPCOT near Sundarapuram in Coimbatore after the completion of diploma in mechanical engineering studied at the Sankar Institute of Polytechnic in 1993. Then I moved to Chennai and worked in Plant Engineering Services near Vavin in Ambattur Industrial Estate for about six months before stepping into the journalism field.

I joined Maalaimalar, the Tamil evening daily, as an artist/proof reader in 1994 and I was transferred to Tiruchi in 1998. There I was assigned with a new task as News Editor and Programme Editor in Air Media Network Television (a sister concern of Daily Thanthi) till I was transferred to Chennai in 2002 to work as crime reporter in Maalaimalar.

I joined in The New Indian Express as crime reporter in May 1, 2006. Then I joined as senior correspondent in the Deccan Chronicle in August, 2007. Now, I am working with The Times of India as Special Correspondent since March 10, 2008...