QChennai: Suspicious Death of TN Labourers; Daswant Sentenced

Your roundup of the top stories from Chennai.

The 23-year-old techie is the main accused in the sexual assault and murder of a 7-year-old.

(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute) 

1. Daswant Sentenced to Death for Rape, Murder of 7-Year-Old Girl

S Daswant had allegedly lured Hasini into his apartment and suffocated her to death.

A mahila court in Chengalpet, near Chennai, on Monday sentenced Daswant to death for the kidnap, rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in an apartment in Mugalivakkam, a neighbourhood of the city, in February last.

According to prosecution, on 5 February, when the child's parents were away, Daswant lured her and raped her. To stop her crying out for help, he killed her. He hid the body in his house for a day and took it out in a travel bag and dumped it under a bridge near Anakaputhur. The next day, he went back to the spot and burnt the body. Posing as a passerby, he alerted the police control room.

(Source: The Hindu)

2. HC to Hear Maran’s Plea Against I-T Dept Proceedings Today

Sun TV Chairman Kalanithi Maran.

The Madras High Court has posted for hearing on Tuesday a writ petition filed by media baron Kalanithi Maran to quash an order passed by an Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax in New Delhi on 3 November 2014, declaring him as the principal officer of SpiceJet airlines. Such declaration would make him liable for prosecution due to the company’s failure to deposit Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) on time for different financial years.

In his affidavit, Maran stated that he was only a non-executive chairman of the Board of Directors of the company and therefore not at all in charge or in control of its day-to-day affairs since it was managed professionally by the Managing Director and others. He added:

Further, the company has its corporate office at Delhi from where it is managed and controlled. On the other hand, I am residing and carrying on business at Chennai.

(Source: The Hindu)

3. Kamaraj Terminal to Be Razed Soon

Construction of travelator that connects the domestic and international terminals has been on at the airport for a while now and is likely to be completed soon.

The process to begin the demolition of the three-decade-old Kamaraj Domestic Terminal at Chennai airport has started, to make way for the phase II modernisation project. It will take three months to complete this process.

Officials said, as a first stage, various equipment and fittings inside this terminal have been dismantled. The work has been on for nearly a week now and then the building will be pulled down systematically. Soon after this is complete, the Anna International Terminal too will be razed. This terminal has not been used for five years now after the operations were shifted to the new domestic terminal.

(Source: The Hindu)

4. Hearing in TTV Symbol Case Over

The senior counsel said TTV Dhinakaran’s faction of the party wanted to begin their political activities so that they could make themselves familiar with the electors. 

The Delhi High Court on Monday concluded the hearing on an application moved by TTV Dhinakaran seeking permission to use a suitable name and a symbol for his faction for the upcoming civic polls. Justice Rekha Palli reserved her order after the counsel for Dhinakaran, the Election Commission of India and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam finished their arguments.

Dhinakaran had sought to be allotted a suitable name and the ‘pressure cooker’ symbol to his faction of the party till his main petition staking claim over the ‘two leaves’ symbol is decided by the High Court.

(Source: The Hindu)

5. ‘Death of Labourers from Tamil Nadu Highly Suspicious’

Only an impartial probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would bring out truth in the case, said Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee.

The death of five labourers from Tamil Nadu, whose bodies were found floating in a tank in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, was “highly suspicious”, considering the circumstances, the depth of water in the tank and past incidents involving woodcutters, Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee vice-president Kranthi Chaithanya said.

Our fact-finding team that visited the spot has confirmed that the existing depth of water in the tank is less than six feet and there is no possibility for anybody to drown unless he/she is unconscious. Since the bodies are highly decomposed, external injuries are not visible. The post-mortem has been conducted by a team of experts and the process has been videographed

He said that even if the allegation that the victims were woodcutters heading to the Vontimitta forest was true, there was no need for them to enter the tank.

(Source: The Hindu)

6. Employer Pours Spirits on Staff, Sets Her Aflame

People with mental disabilities and victims of acid attacks will now get a four percent quota in Central Govt jobs, up from three percent. Representational Image.

A 33-year-old woman sustained 46% burn injuries after her employer poured lab spirit on her and set her on fire. She has been admitted to the Kilpauk Government Hospital. According to Madipakkam police inspector Jaishankar, Yamuna, 33, is the wife of Anand, a driver residing at Sivasubramaniam Nagar in Puzhuthivakkam. They have a four-year-old daughter.

Yamuna was working as a lab assistant in a private hospital a few years ago and one Raja, a resident of Anna Nagar, was her colleague. Police said that Raja left the hospital and started a small medical laboratory in Madipakkam. A few months ago, she joined Raja’s lab as a part-time staff, said the police. “We had to make ends meet, hence she started going for the job,” said a visibly shaken Anand, who was at the burns unit in the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital on Monday afternoon.

(Source: The Hindu)

7. Draft Coastal Zone Management Plan Open for Suggestions

Environmental activists who had quickly perused the maps were already concerned that the new maps might be more influenced by commercial interests eyeing coastal development than environmental considerations.

The Draft Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMP) prepared by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, a government-authorised agency, was released on Monday and published on the website of the Tamil Nadu environment department (http://tnenvis.nic.in) inviting comments in writing from various institutions, the public and NGOs by 6 April 2018.

The plans, covering 13 coastal districts of the State, provide details of the High Tide Line, defined as the line on the coastal land up to which the highest water line reaches during the spring tide, demarcate areas for housing and other infrastructure on the coast and map coastal ecosystem, such as mangroves, salt marshes, tidal flats, coral reefs, and so on.

(Source: The Hindu)